Duty Free in South Africa

Foreign tourists entering South Africa can bring in all personal effects duty-free, subject to limits on the following items:

• Wine: 2 liters
• Other spirits and alcoholic beverages: 1 liter
• Cigarettes: 200
• Cigars: 50
• Tobacco: 250 grams
• Perfume: 50 mililiters
• Eau de toilette: 250 mililiters

Most declared gifts and other non-personal items, meanwhile, are subject to a flat duty rate of 20% – and the customs officers decide on the items’ original value, not you. Many tourists, of course, bring gifts over to SA sans packaging and unwrapped, to disguise them as personal items and smuggle them in, but SA Blog in NO WAY endorses or recommends such shockingly uncouth behavior.