The problem with Lindela is it has been plagued by corruption, it is under resourced…. Lindela has been a big headache. [Barry Gilder, Dir Gen Home Affairs] Lindela is a privately run detention centre, paid by the Department of Home Affairs to house detainees ahead of deportation. It is their responsibility to provide accommodation and food, and it is up to Home Affairs to screen detainees prior to deportation. Once in detention, those who currently get the right to explanation and appeal are few. Refugees International observed that most deportees are repatriated without ever seeing an immigration official. In a centre that can hold up to 5,000 deportees at one time, “on any given day there may be between two and zero” immigration officers. 162 Those Zimbabweans who know their rights and are able to access a phone to phone a human rights lawyer may be fortunate enough to avoid deportation, but the vast majority are deported without appeal or any contact with anyone. At times, conditions in Lindela are overcrowded, with up to 5,000 people in a facility designed for 3,000. Detainees end up sharing beds at these times. It has been pointed out by key informants that it is in the financial interest of Lindela to have high numbers of deportees housed there, as they are paid per head. Those who have been deported via Lindela report a very high incidence of illness among inmates, particularly of respiratory disorders, and many have commented that nobody comes out of Lindela without being ill and coughing. Respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis, will flourish in an overcrowded situation such as this. Photograph 14: this Zimbabwean was one of four who died after being detained in Lindela in October this year. He had relatives in Johannesburg who knew he had been detained; he was one of the fortunate few who was repatriated to Zimbabwe for burial. Deaths in Lindela – detaining of the very ill 162 RI, 14 July 2004, op cit. 69