There is a lengthy official document, supposedly blessed by the SA Police, posted on http://www.professionalhunters.co.za/

that describes in great detail the implications of the new act.



Some gems:



1. SAPS520 must be filled in BLACK ink and left UNSIGNED until you are actually in front of the official.

2. You have to be OVER 21.

3. Transiting passengers can only avoid this mess IF their airline agrees to check their bags through, which is normally only possible if the connecting airline and the originating airline have a baggage agreement, AND if you are going on to your final destination the SAME day.

4. You CAN get a semi-auto shotgun in but you must get your permit 21 days in advance.

5. You CAN get a hunting handgun in but you must have a letter from an "ASSOCIATION" in your home country stating that the handgun is for hunting purposes. I would be happy to start such an association if none exists (well the NRA but I doubt they are going to give you a personal letter; the other option would be SCI but not everyone is a member.) I will just put a template on my website and you can fill in the details and print out your own letter! Give me a day or two on this.

6. "Firearms must bear the manufacturer�s serial number or any other mark by which the firearm can be identified. The identification number must be stamped and the mark affixed in the prescribed manner on the barrel or the frame or the receiver of the firearm." I told you so!



Anyway, I leave the reading (it's a lot of pages) to you.

I received the following from PHASA today:-



12 August 2004



Dear PHASA Member:



We have just updated the PHASA Website (www.professionalhunters.co.za) with new information from the South African Police Service on the temporary importation of firearms into South Africa. The new information is also attached with this email. Also attached is a copy of the SAP 520 form which can be emailed to your clients.



While some of the requirements remain the same, there is some critical new information that you and your clients need to be aware of, so please make sure you/your clients read and are aware of all the information.



Regards,

Gary Davies

Chief Executive Director





Professional Hunters' Assn. of South Africa (PHASA)

P. O. Box 10264

Centurion 0046

South Africa

Tel: 27 12 667 2048

Fax: 27 12 667 2049

phasa@pixie.co.za







Updated August 2004



Requirements from 1 July 2004



Temporary Importation of Firearms into South Africa



Latest Information Received from the South African Police Service







Importation of Firearms (Updated � August 2004)



Visitors bringing firearms into South Africa for hunting purposes, will be asked to fill in a SAP 520 � Temporary Import Application which is available from your outfitter, or which can be downloaded off the SAPS Website at www.saps.gov.za, or which can be filled out on arrival. We would suggest filling in the form beforehand to save the processing time at the Police Office.



Instructions for Filling in SAP 520 Form



1. Black ink must be used to fill in the form.

2. The form must be left unsigned until the document is finalized in front of the police official issuing the actual permit.

3. Please note that not all sections of the form apply. Visitors bringing their own firearms in for hunting purposes should concentrate on filling in the following:

Section D � (temporary import or export permit)

Section E � 1 � 25.4

Section G

Section I � (Must fill in all details requested)

Section J - (remember do not sign until in front of police officer at firearm

office)



Additional Requirements along with the SAP 520 are the following:



1. Identity and Flight Details



a. Passport



b. Return Airline Ticket



2. Other Supporting Documentation



a. Proof of Ownership

Firearm licenses, documentary proof, etc. For USA Citizens, Customs Declaration Form 4457 (officially stamped) is acceptable





b. Proof of Export

Documentary proof of export from the country of origin



c. Motivation Letter from Client

This is a letter from the client stating that he is temporarily importing the referred to firearm/s for the purpose of hunting, to include that the firearm/s are required as he will be hunting

(list the species to be hunted), etc.



d. Invitation Letter from the Hunting Outfitter

This is supporting documentation from the Hunting

Outfitter/company with whom the client will be hunting, to include full name of company, full contact details and address, dates and location where the client will be hunting and confirming that the applicant will be using the specific firearms as applied for.



e. Any Other Supporting Documents



Firearms will be physically inspected to ensure the serial number(s) match those of the licenses (proof of ownership) and the application form. Ammunition will also be inspected.



For visitors clearing customs at the Johannesburg International Airport, please take note of the following procedure to be followed on arrival:



1. Clear passport control in the Terminal where your flight arrives (generally SAA and its co-partners at Terminal 2 and all other airlines at Terminal 1).

2. Proceed to baggage claim at the respective carousel. Pick up general baggage, then proceed to the respective Airline Help Desk to pick up firearm/s from the airline company and sign a receipt for the firearm/s. Ask the Airline Help Desk to direct you to the South African Police Firearm Office. Depending on the terminal where you arrive, they may need to escort you to the Office.

3. Proceed to the South African Police Firearm Office (Do not at this point proceed to customs)

4. On receipt of the temporary import permit at the SAPS Firearm Office, proceed to Customs, the Red Zone, where you declare the firearm/s and finish other custom clearance procedures.



For those visitors clearing customs at any of the other international points of entry, please take note of the relevant information made above which relates to documentation requirements, etc.



Please insure sufficient time is allowed to go through the temporary importation process and to clear customs. During the busy periods of the hunting season up to seventy clients may be needing permits at the same time. We would therefore recommend at least five (5) hours be set aside for this procedure and between connecting flights.



Firearm / Ammunition Allowances and Specifications



1. No more than one firearm per caliber and 200 rounds per firearm will be permitted. No ammunition for other rifle calibers will be permitted.



An exception to this may apply for shotguns where more than one of the same caliber may be allowed for bird hunting purposes if the client produces on arrival at the SAPS Gun Office an acceptable written motivation as to why more than one is required.



2. Firearms must bear the manufacturer�s serial number or any other mark by which the firearm can be identified. The identification number must be stamped and the mark affixed in the prescribed manner on the barrel or the frame or the receiver of the firearm.



3. Handguns will be allowed into the country, but only for hunting purposes. Any visitor wanting to bring in a handgun in this regard needs to have a letter from an association in the country of origin, stating the handgun will be used for hunting purposes.



4. Prohibited firearms which may NOT be imported into South Africa include:



a. Any fully automatic weapon



b. Any semi-automatic weapon



c. Handgun/s for self-defense



d. Weapons which fall under military categories



5. A semi-automatic shotgun for hunting purposes may be allowed if an application is made at least 21 days before arrival through the Central Firearms Register with a motivation letter as to why this type of firearm is required.



General Provisions:



1. Temporary Import Permits:



a.. May only be issued to a foreign visitor for the purpose of hunting



b. Will be issued subject to the requirements of the Act with regard to the carrying, storage, safe custody and transport of a firearm and ammunition



c. Subject to the use of the firearm only for the purpose set out in the permit



d. Subject to the fact that no person who holds a temporary import permit is allowed to transfer the firearm to another person in South Africa without prior written permission having been obtained from the Central Firearm Register.



e. Whenever the holder of a temporary import permit leaves the Republic of South Africa, the firearm in respect of which the permit is issued must accompany the holder of the permit



f. Possession of no more than the quantity of cartridges determined by the Registrar and specified on the permit for each firearm in respect of which the temporary import permit applies



g. A Temporary Import Permit shall not be issued for a period exceeding six months at a time



h. Applicant must be 21 or over



i. Should a firearm not be declared on arrival and a temporary import

permit not issued, you will face severe penalties and possible arrest on

departure from South Africa.



2. Applications for Temporary Import Permits can be made in advance to the Central Firearm Register. Ask your Hunting Outfitter to assist you in this regard.



3. Please ensure that your firearm/s arrive on the same flight as you do. This must be done with the airline company on departure. Your firearm/s may only be signed for by you and will not be released to your outfitter or professional hunter should it/they arrive on a separate flight. If the firearm/s do not arrive with the passenger, the passenger must proceed to his final destination in South Africa and apply at the closest Police Station for a Temporary Import Permit. When the Temporary Import Permit has been issued, the original permit with the keys to the rifle case must be couriered to the Border Post of entry. A

Transport Agent with transport permit must be appointed by the passenger. This Transport Agent must have a letter from the passenger instructing him/her

to transport the firearm/s to the passenger in person. The firearm/s will be inspected by the Police at the Port of entry and the firearm/s and permit will be handed to the transporter to be transported to the passenger.



4. Please do not pay for any service regarding the handling of firearms at Johannesburg International Airport, or any port of entry. The issuing of the SAP 520 is a free service and the South African Police Service asks clients not to pay anybody involved in handling firearms from the time of arrival in South Africa right through until you receive your firearm/s and the permit from the SAPS. Clients that are paying the various airline staff, security staff, or porters involved are actually creating a problem. Please note however there is a handling fee charged by airlines and/or security companies for the handling of handguns, and some airlines have started charging a handling fee for all firearms. We suggest checking with your airline with regard to any �official� fees that may be required.



5. There is no permit required, nor any charge by the South African Police Service for a bow. Handling fees are charged by airline and/or security companies for bows and handguns.



6. Please note that NO firearms will be held for safekeeping by the SAPS. If a client brings in a prohibited firearm, brings in more than what is allowed, or lacks the necessary documentation and his request for a temporary import permit is denied, the involved firearms must be exported immediately by the client or voluntarily surrendered to the State.





In Transit Passengers (Transiting South Africa)



It is critical that you check with and confirm with the airline/s involved before departure to make sure what their procedure is for the transfer of baggage and/or firearms.



If the airline does transfer your baggage/firearms, and you have booked them through to the final destination, and you stay in the in-transit area and do not clear South African customs, then you need not go through the temporary import process.



If your airline company will not transfer your baggage/guns to your connecting airline/flight, then you must collect your baggage/firearm/s and go through the entire entry process. If this is the case, the South African limitations, requirements, etc. will apply.



This also applies if you are overnighting in South Africa before flying on to your country of destination.



That's the end of the PHASA info. My comments follow:



.........don't like that bit about surrender to the state.



I've spoken to 3 DFOs (Designated Firearms Officers)in recent days and all have told me that THEIR instructions are that after Jan 1 05 all firearms should have the serial numbers on the 3 locations. Russ, I hope you are right, but I would hate to see hunters having to surrender valuable and much loved firearms to the state for sale or destruction for not having the numbers on all 3 places. All I can do is my best. If I hear any more news from either side I'll post what I hear. Nothing more and nothing less. But it already seems that every individual is interpreting the act in thir own way.

Someone previously posted that the Afrikans language version says "and" instead of "or".

This may become a moot point for me, if I can't carry a handgun for personal protection then there are lots of other countries where I would feel safer.

Sorry guys, I should have said in my last post that it was the attachment sent to me from PHASA........I have amended the post accordingly.

No, the Afrikaans version (which I posted verbatim on this forum two weeks ago) says OR ("of") not AND ("en").

The confusion stems from the fact that firearms that are to be imported permanently into SA are supposed to be stamped in both (or all 3) places, and also proofed by the SA Bureau of Standards.

The regulations for temporary importation are clear in both languages.

Can we say "busted" to this myth, forever please? It's getting tiring to have to spell it out over and over again.

Amen Peter, Well said and excellant advice.

Russ - when I said your interpretation, I was wrong. I should have said your translation, as I was referring to your double-checking the Afrikaans/English issue for us.

shakari - I've made my position pretty clear on using Air 2000 or similar service for the gun import issue. I choose to use and recommend Air 2000 due to the fact that I have dealt with them in the past and had nothing short of excellent service.

I spoke to Gary Davies yesterday, and he tells me that he visits the SAPS firearms office at JIA most days at the moment, and that the standards do seem to be changing on a day to day basis. Whether this is true or not, I don't know, (I'm not there with him) but I see no reason whatsoever to doubt him. I've also spoken to various hunters who have come through and from what they say the standards do seem to change........I guess it could even be that some cops are more careless than others.

I've personally come through twice since 1 July and on one occasion they looked at my rifle (which has the serial number in all 3 places)......although I don't know if they actually checked that or not, they did look very carefully at the rifle. The second time, they didn't check anything at all other than the paperwork. (I wasn't even asked to open my riflecase). On both occasions I've used the services of a "meet and greet" service which has got me through a lot faster than the other hunters I saw standing in long queues with even longer faces.

I've also driven through from RSA into Botswana (and back again) once since July 1st. On that occasion, I discovered that none of the Botswana road crossings are mentioned on the computer programme and nor do they have any PCs to check any paperwork, and no-one seemed to care much one way or the other. I'm going through a second time on Wednesday and will find out what happens at a different border crossing. On both occasions of preparing for the crossings into Botswana I have managed to get my temp export licences a week before I leave home......bu on both occasions no-one has known how to complete the export licences and I have had to do it myself. (which suits me as I then put the info I want on it rather than the info they want.

As I said previously, I've spoken to 3 DFOs who have all told me the same thing about the serial numbers, but none of them seemed to know much about the act anyway, so I guess it it could well be a commonly held misconception....but as the guidance I posted, said that any firearms that don't comply must be either immediatly exported or permenantly surrendered to the state I for one won't be taking any chances. It also implies that the SAPS will take the attitude that the rifle either complies with the act or it does not. It also implies there will be no local facilities and no opportunity to engrave numbers on rifles.

I don't know what other companies are doing, but I'm offering all our clients the opportunity to use my 3006 & ammo FOC until this new act is fully understood.

It seems to me that the SAPS are (very?) slowly getting it worked out, and once they do, it should not cause any more problems than other African countries if everything is in order before the hunter arrives, but at the end of the day, that will be largely dependant on the quality of customer serice offered by the individual outfitter. So if you book with a good quality outfitter he should be able to ensure it all runs smoothly for you.

We've all criticised this new act, but I suspect it was partly designed to work with the hunting regulations to stamp out these fly by night characters here who offer cheap/sub standard hunting to overseas hunters. The new act WILL ensure that better track is kept of firearms coming into the country and the new hunting standards WILL ensure that only legally hunted trophies can get exported. So from that aspect the new act will be a great success.

I've looked at Russ's interpretation and also had a friend confirm that they both say "or" and not "and," but I think the point being made is that regardless of what the law says, if the people enforcing the law are stupid, confused (understandable!!), or whatever, if you happen to get the one who wants to enforce it that way it will be a big hassle. Personally, I have no desire in this day and age to travel to a foreign country and then get in a hassle over firearms, not to mention possibly ruining a trip of a lifetime. JMO

gotogirl3

No matter where we travel in the world we will at times meet silly stupid or intransigent people in authority, that is the price we pay for being HUMAN.

There is a good cost effective solution that will save heartache and stress. Just spend a couple of bucks and use one of the service providers whom will for a small irrelavant fee do the donkey work for you, those whom have travelled and used them have good stories to tell...

What is 35 - 75 dollars when you are spending upwards of 7k all up on a safari.

Afton Guest house are one of the [most cost effective] if you do overnight with them that is, Air 2000 and Optima Handling spring to mind as very helful as well for those in transit in particular.

Leave the headaches to others, that is what life is about, use the appropriate people to do the appropriate job, we cant expect to all be able to do it all ourselves, those are my humble views anyhow

Happy Hunting, Peter

Has anyone had problems with serial numbers at JNB? It's August 12 and the new act was supposed to be in force July 1. That makes 40 plus days times say 10 hunters per day (very conservatively) for a total of 400 hunters arriving at JNB. If there were serial number problems, I am sure we would have heard about it on this forum.

I am curious to see if there are ANY grounds for this rumor. I very much doubt that the same people that work the firearms import desk every day at JNB are going to require multiple serial numbers one day and not the next. For one thing, they would have to buy engraving equipment and so on if the rumor were true. My point is, such a major change is bigger than the whim of an inspector having a bad day.

My theory is that this serial number thing is a rumor instigated or propagated by persons who have hunts to sell in Botswana, Nambia, Zimbabwe etc. Since I have hunts to sell in all the above countries, plus SA, I am indifferent other than wanting folks to know the real facts as opposed to the "Castle Lager" version(s) of the new Firearms Control Act.

I don't buy the theory that the rules are changing daily. South Africa still abides by the rule of law, and any new act is ratified by Parliament, signed by the President, and it doesn't get revised daily. I think the only thing that is changing daily are the scare tactics.

It's not my "interpretation" folks, it's what the act says in plain English (the President signed the English version) and plain Afrikaans (which he didn't sign, but it says the same thing, despite rumors to the contrary). There is no room for interpretation, the word OR means in the alternate. One or the other. Barrel or receiver or frame. There is NO way anyone, no matter how confused, can interpret that any other way. Period.

Rich,

I'm not really sure who flies direct into DBN, but I'm sure some of the airlines do......perhaps Kathi will be kind enough to tell us.

Axter,

Glad to hear you didn't have any hassles coming in, and hopefully once the system gets streamlined (there's talk of moving to a larger office which should speed thing up a lot) then these silly waiting periods will die out. As to the serial number thing, I hope they are satisfied with one number on each rifle....... although that veiled threat of surrender to the state is a worry. If the new act works in tandem with the game laws and stamps out the fly by nights, it might even turn out to be not all bad.

Well, I landed in JIA July 13th for a 10 day hunt and they checked all the paperwork as usual and as for the guns they checked the serial nos. on the receiver only. I have the last 4 digits engraved (factory) on the underside of my bolts but they were not checked and neither was the barrel. Yes, I was fingerprinted also. Upon leaving I had to turn in my temp. firearms license and they again checked my ser. nos. on the receiver only.

There were other hunters there naturally so this process did take a little time but they all were very professional and although I didnt like the hassle (I'm sure nobody does) I really cant complain as everybody was just doing their job and nobody was acting like a dick head.

My partner also had just his receiver ser. nos. checked. My opinion is that this is the procedure. Actually, I cant see any reason to have the whole gun stamped and who would do this anyway, I'm sure their not going to. I also cant see them confiscating hunters firearms unless sopmething is obvisouly very wrong.

So far I havent seen any horror stories yet and until I do I'm planning another trip to S.A.......