A 25-year-old Zimbabwean from Masvingo town talked to Human Rights Watch on the N1 highway, close to the Tshipise turn-off. He was returning to Pretoria where he had held a building job since 2003. He said he had been arrested five times in Johannesburg, and each time the police had treated him badly. “They are asking for ID, for permit, and they want money from you. If you have money, you give it to them. Then they leave you. If you don’t have money, they arrest you. They start from R50 [US$7.10]. If you are not cooperative, they search you. And if they find more, they’ll take it all. If they search you and find no money, they arrest you.” He was deported only once, in 2003. Asked where he got arrested, he replied, “At work for me.” As to how his employer, a black South African builder, responded to his arrests, he said: “He just kept quiet. Usually the police know the employer and they won’t even say anything to him.”105 A farmer, who was also a TAU official for the northern region of Limpopo province, had a dim view of police exploiting traffic violators to take bribes from undocumented migrants: “They stop trailers, cars on the road. They look at lights, etc. That’s the traffic police function. They do it just to take money. Many times they will let illegals through or even transport them.”106 Detention exceeding 30 days without proper procedures The Immigration Act, as amended, states that an “illegal foreigner” “may not be held in detention for longer than 30 calendar days without a warrant of a Court which on good and reasonable grounds may extend such detention for an adequate period not exceeding 90 calendar days.”107 The Immigration Regulations require an immigration officer intending to apply for the extension of the detention period to give written notice to the detainee of his or her intention within 20 days following the detainee��s arrest, provide the detainee an opportunity to make representations in this regard within three days of receiving the notice, and within 25 days following the arrest of the detainee, submit an application with the court clerk for the extension of the period of detention.108 Human Rights Watch came across several cases in which this procedure was allegedly violated. At Makhado (Louis Trichardt) police station, a Mozambican to whom Human Rights Watch spoke claimed he had been kept in the cell for about three months. He said: 105 Human Rights Watch interview with an undocumented Zimbabwean male, N1 highway near the Tshipise turn-off, April 30, 2006. Human Rights Watch interview with a white commercial farmer who was a TAU committee chair, northern region, Makhado, April 25, 2006. 107 Immigration Act, as amended by Immigration Amendment Act, section 34(1)(d). 108 Ibid., section 34(1)(d) and Immigration Regulations, section 28(4). 106 27 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOLUME 18. NO. 6(A)