Bribery and corruption are part of everyday life in Mozambique. It inflates costs and adds time to the simplest of tasks. The cost to the Mozambican economy and to individual Mozambicans is huge. As visitors we should at all cost avoid paying bribes to anyone.
Paying bribes encourages the system of bribes being paid. Paying bribes as a foreigner encourages officials to target other foreigners for bribes. Paying bribes means money ends up in the wrong hands and is illegal.
For these reasons and more we should as a visitor make every effort not to pay bribes. Although this is easier said than done. The best way to avoid having to pay a bribe is to know the situations where bribes are likely to arise and know the rules. I will below go through some of the situations where you are likely to be asked for a bribe. The most common is by the police as a driver.
Airports and Dryports (land borders)
Staff at all areas of these places may ask for bribes. I have been asked by airport and land port staff in various areas. The requests are usually friendly and do please turn down their request for money.
Government buildings
If you have to deal with visas, you need to register a business, or for other issues you may end up having to visit a government building. Go with a lot of patience and a good book. There is always a lot of waiting. There are also frequently officials willing to take money from you to help you avoid the wait. Although this is tempting, please do not bribe public officials. If you wait patiently you can enjoy your book and you will get to the front of the line eventually. What is often easier in these situations is to find someone to do this for you. There are always Mozambicans who know the systems who will happily do these tasks for you for a fair fee. These are not government employees, just Mozambicans who do this to earn some money. This isn’t possible for everything though. For example you have to turn up in person to renew your visa. It is worth being aware that in government buildings, you are often required to dress more modestly than elsewhere, with covered shoulders and no short shorts.
Traffic Police
There is a full article on the traffic police here. I will give some basics here. Traffic police wear blue trousers and a white shirt. No other type of police is allowed to stop you in your car or deal with any driving related issues. Always be polite with the police and speak in Portuguese if you can. If you have broken the rules (usually speeding) then ask to pay the fine. To pay an official fine the police will need to fill out a long form in duplicate, they keep a copy and will give you a copy. Ensure this is done. They may spend a lot of time persuading you to just give them cash to keep costs down. In my experience most traffic police prefer to let you leave, rather than bother filling in the form if you are politely insistent on receiving the official fine form (receipt).
In summary
Avoiding paying bribes may take a little longer, but it will help stop other visitors being targeted and helping visitors to Mozambique is what the Enjoy Mozambique community is all about. The more the traffic police and others know that visitors are not an easy target, the easier it is for all of us.
