Corruption at the Lesotho and Swaziland Borders

Thanks to a Lesotho residence permit, it has been a while since I have had to stamp on the Lesotho side of the border when crossing into South Africa. But a visit to Swaziland last weekend (to go to the amazing Bushfire festival) reminded me of the corruption problems I faced at the Lesotho border.

It seems that one habit the border officials have is to deliberately mis-stamp your passport. For example, they might deliberately give you an exit stamp when you are entering the country, or an entry stamp on leaving. Alternatively, they might stamp your passport twice either on exit or on entry.

In all of these cases, it makes it appear as though you have come into or left the country without stamping at some point, and are therefore liable for a fine. The border officials will try to catch you out on “your” fault at some point in the future, and you will be asked with a shake of the head what can be done to help “correct the problem”.

Of course, you will have no idea that there was anything wrong because you assumed that they correctly stamped your passport each time, and will try to rack your brains to figure out what happened.

It took me a while to understand what was happening but actually witnessed my passport being stamped twice on one occasion, and on another occasion - just after my arrival in Lesotho – I realised too late that I had been given the wrong stamp. Someone else had to come and rescue me from having to pay for the privilege of having my passport “corrected”.

When I noticed my passport being stamped twice, I got really angry and asked for their names and told them to correct it. The officials looked pretty worried, but officially, my passport is still wrong. I am wondering what the legal position is – presumably it is against some international law to stamp passports deliberately incorrectly. I have also seen a law in Lesotho that seems to indicate that mis-using official stamps actually carries a prison sentence.

Why did my visit to Swaziland remind me of the problems I faced at the Lesotho border? An ODI fellow I was travelling with left Swaziland only to find he had been given two exit stamps. It was too late go back by then. When he tries to enter next time, an eagle-eyed immigration person will no doubt spot the fact that his passport suggests that he “illegally entered” (both in inverted commas, for he did neither) the country and will request something in order to help him correct his passport.