Certified

Wranglings today at the Mozambique Consulate in Johannesburg, where I am trying to extract a visa in the name of my new employer, to stay living there legitimately. It’s previously been fairly simple to get short-term visas in Johannesburg, yet today I was given the run around, differently to before. I was told to go away and return with legally certified copies of both my invitation letter and the ID of the person signing it. It’s transplanting me back to the constant uncertainty of 2018-21 when I was asked to work in Mozambique without the legal setup being correct. At least now my new organisation is trying to help with documents, and I’m reassured that this is only a temporary stage until I receive a work permit to go to Tanzania, from where my new job will mostly be managed.

Whenever I see street signs in Afrikaans, my mind leaps to the apartheid years and the epic problems modern South Africa faces in striving for social and financial equality.