order to assess on site the access of Zimbabweans to the offices granting asylum seeker status, and general treatment by South African officials. • Ten field visits to apartments/rooms/spaces where refugees reside in Johannesburg, Durban and Musina to raise our awareness of living conditions. • Key informant interviews with two South African Home Affairs officials, and with South African human rights lawyers, church leaders and personnel in NGOs that have been working with Zimbabwean refugees. • Two surveys of Zimbabwean refugees, which are in addition to the 200 hundred interviews mentioned previously;8 o A survey conducted in October 2003, of 100 Zimbabweans who were among those in the queue outside Home Affairs in Johannesburg on the same morning in October 2003, trying to access the building for asylum seeker status. o A survey conducted in August 2004, of 111 Zimbabweans who are informally registered with two different NGO refugee organizations in Johannesburg. This involved in-depth structured interviews with each interviewee, of around one hour each, and focused on reasons for leaving Zimbabwe, access to asylum seeker permits and access to health care. • Interviews with lawyers and refugees, and a desk study to establish the process of deportation, including conditions in Lindela detention centre, on the deportation train, and on arrival at Beitbridge in Zimbabwe. The deportation of unaccompanied minors was of particular interest. • Four field visits and key informant interviews with NGOs operating in the Musina area to investigate conditions of Zimbabweans arriving there, in particular unaccompanied minors; interviews on holding and deportation conditions in Musina. • Three field visits and interviews with health personnel and police in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, to gain insight into what happens to migrants forcibly returned from South Africa. 8 See appendices for questionnaires. As indicated above, these questionnaires provide insights into issues rather than anything statistically profound. Their findings are therefore not discussed and presented in a detailed way, but have rather informed general discussion by the authors. 17