Weapons — South Africa

You cannot bring a firearm into South Africa without a temporary import permit. Apply on form SAPS 520 at least 21 days ahead to the Central Firearms Register, or at the port of entry if you are 21 or over and hunting, competing or exhibiting — one firearm per calibre and no more than 200 rounds. Semi-automatic and automatic rifles and hand carbines cannot be permitted at the port of entry.

SARS: fully automatic, military and unnumbered weapons are strictly prohibited from import, and failing to declare "results in the detention and forfeiture of the goods not declared and accompanying goods, imposition of an administrative penalty and/or criminal prosecutions." The Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 also prescribes imprisonment for importing without a permit (s.121 read with Schedule 4); no official text of that schedule was obtainable this run, so no term is stated here.

South Africa does not ban knives by size or type. The Dangerous Weapons Act makes it an offence to possess any object capable of causing death or serious injury in circumstances that raise a reasonable suspicion you mean to use it unlawfully — so how and where you carry a blade matters more than the blade itself. Maximum penalty is a fine or three years in prison.

Dangerous Weapons Act 15 of 2013 s.3(1): "guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years." The Act fixes no rand figure for the fine.