RI comment that there is some official resistance in Home Affairs to the idea that Zimbabweans have any right at all to qualify as refugees, the court ruling notwithstanding. When RI personnel interviewed staff in the RRO in Johannesburg, they informed RI that Zimbabweans were not a priority when issuing ASPs, because “there is no civil war in Zimbabwe, so there is no reason to apply… we do not put them at the top of the list”.85 If this is the attitude of the very individuals in whose hands the fate of Zimbabweans lie, then it is no surprise that Zimbabweans face an almost insurmountable task in getting asylum seeker permits. 4. Refugee Reception Office, Johannesburg: Observations of current authors “There is no instruction, no policy to disadvantage Zimbabweans” [Barry Gilder, interview] As the vast majority of Zimbabweans are in the greater Johannesburg area, and have to apply via the Johannesburg RRO for asylum, we have centred our own observations at two different Johannesburg RRO locations over one year. 86 We have found that there is a dramatic lack of capacity in the Johannesburg Home Affairs office to cope with the numbers of refugees from any and all nations, and a clearly discernable lack of good will towards Zimbabwean refugees in particular.87 This statement is made based on the following personal observations, key informant interviews, and on comments received from those in the queues. • • • • The Johannesburg RRO office has had no fewer than 4 venues in the last 12 months, and for long periods of time, there has been no functioning office at all during the last year. Not only Zimbabweans but asylum seekers of all nationalities have been sorely tested to keep up with the RRO moves in the last year. The RRO now in Rosettenville, is not sign-posted in any way, and is accessed down a narrow side passage littered with garbage. It took our team 40 minutes of searching in a motor vehicle and on foot before we found the office. Zimbabweans are allowed to apply for asylum only on Tuesdays, along with countries from the “Horn of Africa”.88 They start queuing on Sunday or Monday for Tuesday’s chance to be processed for asylum seeker papers ie. Zimbabweans queue for up to 24 hours ahead of the office opening to them on Tuesdays. This was also observed by RI.89 On the six Tuesdays of observation in Braamfontein in 2003, the Zimbabwean queue was consistently between five and ten times longer than the “Horn of Africa” queue. Yet the other queue moved extremely quickly into the building while the Zimbabweans were kept waiting on the pavement, with a reported average of between 5 and 10 85 RI, 14 July 2004, op cit. Key informant interviews, October 2003. Different sources place Zimbabweans in Johannesburg alone at between 500,000 and 1,000,000. There is no clear data on numbers, as discussed previously. 87 The National Refugee Base Line Survey of November 2003 noted problems with this same office with regard to refugees of other nationalities, saying “applicants living in Johannesburg and reliant on the Braamfontein Refugee Office were by far the most likely to experience the different barriers [to getting ASPs]”. The Durban office is reported by refugees and NGO staff we interviewed to have a similar attitude to Zimbabweans as the Johannesburg office. No comment can be made on the other RROs in this regard. 88 The torn piece of A4 half way down the alley, which is the only indication that this is indeed where the RRO lies, tells its own story: the weekly calendar shows that on Tuesdays, people may apply from “Horn of Africa (Zimbabwe)”. Even on the sign the claim to asylum by Zimbabweans is bracketed, implying it is less legitimate! 89 Refugees International, South Africa: UNHCR inattention places Zimbabweans in jeopardy, 11 August 2004. 86 41