While our own observations are not statistically validated, our assessment based on several hundred interviews, 200 questionnaires and 7 mornings of observation at the RRO, have left us with the impression that almost no Zimbabwean accesses an ASP without encountering barriers. It is possible to eventually receive an ASP, but the process is invariably problematic.97 It is interesting to note that the 2003 National Refugee Baseline Survey found that asylum seekers from obviously “refugee producing” countries – ie countries where there is/was a war, such as Angola, Rwanda and DRC - were the least likely to experience problems accessing RROs, and asylum seekers from Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia were most likely to experience barriers getting access to RROs, because the officers do not see these countries as genuinely “refugee producing”. This report also noted that the Braamfontein office was the worst in this regard.98 This finding of the CASE study is consistent with the experience of Zimbabweans, who consistently reported being told - “there is no war in Zimbabwe.” There is an urgent need to educate officers in these RROs, including the guards at the doors, that it is not their prerogative to decide which countries are refugee producing. There is a war in Zimbabwe. It is “not a blood war: our war is different; it’s a silent, but it’s a cunning war,”99 and it is sending thousands of people fleeing into the region. It is miraculous that hundreds of Zimbabweans and other asylum seekers still turn up every week to queue when this is the quality of service they receive. But when the outcome of being caught without an asylum seeker permit is deportation, people are left with no real options at all but to queue week after week in the face of official obstruction and poor – or no - delivery of service. Time taken for processing of asylum seeker claims It is quite clear that the time being taken to process claims by any asylum seeker is far in excess of a reasonable limit. In terms of the Regulations for the Refugees Act, gazetted in 2000, reasonable time limits are recommended. Schedule 3 states that: • applications for asylum will generally be adjudicated by the Department of Home Affairs within 180 days of filing a completed asylum application with a Refugee Reception Officer. • an interview before a Refugee Status Determination Officer should take place on a date specified on the asylum seeker permit, normally within 30 days of the asylum application being completed.100 While these time limits are not legally binding, it is quite apparent that Home Affairs is both under resourced and inefficient, as around only 20% of applications from asylum seekers from any nation are being processed in the stipulated six months. CASE report that since the 1998 Act came into effect in April 2000, approximately 71% of asylum seekers who have applied, are still 97 In a year, we did not speak to a single Zimbabwean who had accessed an ASP without problems. A study by Themba Lesizwe (op cit) found that out of 34 torture victims from Zimbabwe who had tried to access ASPs, only 4 had eventually succeeded to do so. Although this is a small sample, it reflects an 88% total barrier to ASPs, and does not report the problems faced or time taken by the other 4 before they received their ASPs. 98 CASE, op cit, page 100. 99 Steven Paradza, Zimbabwe Political Victims Association in Johannesburg used this phraseology, July 2004. 100 Government Gazette 6 April 2000; Regulations for Refugee Act, 1998. 45