SAPS bozos in JB airport don't have a clue what the 4457 even is. They believe it is proof of purchase/ownership, and believe there is an expiration date, when in fact the only expiration date is for the form itself, not the form's contents. Nevertheless a guy importing a rifle to hunt with has to keep these idiots satisfied.
Yep, that's exactly what happened.
The "expiration dates" on the form aren't exactly new, but it's only recently that people started to take notice. The first time I really became aware of this was back in 2017 when the South African Police started giving people issues for "expired" forms. I have a collection of old 4457 forms I've used on hunts for different rifles over the past decade and a half. I recently went through the old forms and noticed that the oldest couple don't have an expiration date, but starting with the 08/09 version of the form (which is essentially identical to the older ones otherwise) the forms have an"expiration" date on them 3 years after the version date on the form.
