Is that to mean something like "that depends on what the meaning of is is?" Sorry I just could'nt help myself

Hell, like I said, I'm just reporting what I've been told by the various parties concerned.......I'm not stating my opinion or interpretation of the act. As far as I'm concerned the whole thing is a total fuck up and no-one seems to know what they're doing. SAPS don't seem to understand the act anymore than anyone else. It could very well be that the English version states one thing and the Afrikaans version another.......

You can always contact Insp Conroy on +270822872906 or PHASA on +27126672048 to get your own personal update.

I'm leaving the country in a day or two and get back in a few weeks, so I guess I'll find out what that days rules are then.

Well, the latest news is that a group of firearms related organisations led by PHASA & SAGA having spent the last few days trying to get a meeting with the Minister have got fed up with being given the cold shoulder, and yesterday afternoon filed an urgent High Court interdict against the RSA Government (in general) & the Minister of Safety & Security in particular. The hearing is scheduled to open tomorrow and it is hoped that the Government will be forced to continue using the old regulations until the new ones can be re-drafted to a more user friendly format.

I'm also told that there is a good possibility that the English version and the Afrikaans versions may well differ due to translation errors....... It sounds to me that 'or' got translated to 'and' in a few places.

Hough, welkom to Afrika sah!!!

Shakari,

Please do not take this as a personal attack. Your posts concerning changes in RSA firearms laws and procedures are thought provoking and interesting and a great source of discussion here. I know you have the best intentions and your posts are meant to enlighten us. For that I thank you. But there appears to be a problem with Inspector Conroy's interpertations of the new laws.

When the "advanced application" situation came to light I immediately contacted my PH for the then upcomming hunt. He assured me that nothing had changed as far as what was actually being implemented on the groung at the airports. When we arrived for our hunt this year we found that infact our PH was correct. Permits were issued as usual, the police did the paperwork as usual, we were more than welcome to spend our money as tourist hunters in RSA.

Perhaps Inspector Conroy has an agenda. Maybe he is just sick of being yanked back and forth by government bureaucrats. Maybe he just tends to interpret pending changes on the pessimestic side. I don't know.

What I do know is that from now on I will rely on information received from the safari operators who pick up their clients on a regular basis from the airports.

Muletrain,

I couldn't agree with you more. I got back from 16 days in Africa on June 13. While planning my trip I read this forum daily, and was concerned by this "sky is falling" mentality that appears from time to time. Regulations were misquoted and misstated, and none of the supposed regulatory changes and the associated problems with temporary import took place either in RSA or Zim. Hell, at one time I considered cancelling my trip because of what I read here. But, after contacting my PH I found that none of it was accurate. On my trip I was treated courteously by the RSA and Zim customs officers, and because I had proof of ownership, my PH's contact info, etc etc I had my permits in short order. From what I observed others going through, there isn't much in Africa that a little money won't fix. I even met a gentleman who was able to get a semi-automatic 30-06 into RSA on a temporary permit. I would caution anyone going, to rely on your booking agent and PH to keep you informed of the new requirements if they are changed, and not place too much stock in well meaning but obviously uninformed information posted here. IMHO

"And you also have a problem with reading comprehension. My post did not advise "listening to a PH in the bush in Zimbabwe" for information."

Actually you did, you just don't realize I gave the worse case scenerio that seems to have gone way over your head. Why am I not surprised.

shakari,

Good point! Please keep us informed of what is actually happening at the airport and not what Inspector Conroy is telling people.

1115,

If the PHASA et al High Court application works, you'll be right......if not, who knows.

Muletrain,

Do you think that I don't pick up clients from the airport?

Odie,

Time will tell. After July 1, and for the long term future, I would be willing to bet that a hunter can bring a rifle into RSA without having to change a thing on it as long as it has a serial number on the frame, OR the barrell, OR the bolt as the regs state. If I am wrong, I will be the first to admit it and stand corrected. Lets wait until after July 1 and see. By the way, I hunted in RSA and Zim on my trip. Had no problems either place. I don't consider myself a hero, I was just well informed.

With all due respect to you both, the act wasn't due to come into force "proper" until July 1st. JIA was originally due to have a month run up from June 1st to see how practical it was. The month run up at JIA was cancelled in early May as they didn't have sufficient officers trained. From that point the new act was to come into force on July 1st. That was the case until yesterday afternoon when the application to the court was filed......anyone who is back from RSA now wouldn't have been affected by the new act, would they?. Anyone who was simply transferring through RSA to another destination won't have been affected by it either as the "in-transit permit" was deemed unworkable at the same time (early May ish). The reason it was deemed unworkable was that they discovered that many/most African countries don't issue a firearms import document until the hunter arrives at the country of destination.



What I've been trying to do is to let forum members know what the current state of play is with regard to the new act at that present time. Whether we like it or not, the people who are in charge are the Ministers who introduce the act and the cops who enforce it. The problem is that both of those two parties either keep re-writing or re-interpreting it as they see fit. How they can do that, I don't know, because I would assume that the act has to be passed by parliament and then it should be written in stone, at least until another act is introduced to replace it.......



Look at it from another point of view, if you or anyone else came to, or passed through RSA and had your firearms confiscated because they failed to meet the criteria of that particular day, and during that storage period your firearms either got lost, stolen or damaged, or you had to hunt with a borrowed or hired rifle and you then discovered that other forum members could have told you of those requirements, but didn't. What would you have thought of him?..........



Regulations and requirements may well have been missquoted or misstated, but not by me. Every post I made on the subject was the result of conversations or other communications such as e-mail and fax with PHASA, and/or the police officer in charge of firearms import at JIA and each post was based on the information they gave me. All I did was pass it on in an attemt to ensure that no-one was going to be caught with their trousers down.

I really have a problem with the two posts before shakari's.



Bemoaning the sky is falling when in reality someone merely stated the sky is changing is self serving nonsense.



You're both heroes, you got to Africa BEFORE the changes and now you are telling everyone, listen your PH in the bush in Zimbabwe as he is fully up on what is going on in South African ports of entry.



Pity the poor bastard that shows up fat dumb and happy on the day the hammer falls.



PS as a personal note to shakari, thank you!

I for one appreciate the information you provide. What I choose to do with it is my business, whether it is to take at full face value, discredit it completely, or something in between. I thought the main purpose of a forum such as this was to keep hunters, agents, dreamers, etc. informed. I believe that Shakari, along with Kathi and others, has merely tried to make people aware of the current situation from where they are sitting. I personally do not want to be the one hunter who happens to get Insp. Conroy at the airport and not know anything of him when there is someone on the forum with some information. That's just me. I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to dealing with government entities and I would want any agent or outfitter to do the same. Thanks for the info. I will file it away and keep it updated for my trip next year, along with all my other research.

Well folks,

I spoke to PHASA today and was told that they hope to have a decision from the High Court within the next 48 hours.

Unfortunately, I'm off to Tanzania tomorrow and won't be back for a couple of weeks, so anyone coming over here during that period will just have to watch the PHASA website and hope they keep it up to date.

As a precaution, I've personally had my rifles engraved with serial numbers in all 3 places as I can't afford for the cops to consiscate them. I'm also using the services of Air 2000........whatever you guys do, is entirely up to you. Either way, I wish you all good hunting and the best of luck with this stuff up.

I just got an email from my travel agent and everything Shakari says is true. Everything is up in the air and people are starting to get frustrated. It also seems saps are not very forthcoming but that could be due to the fact that they probably dont even know just what to do. I was told to stay tuned and in the event I hear more I will post it here. Looks like this might be my last trip to S.A.