“you may never encounter an immigration officer if you are at Lindela because all you encounter is Bosasa security people.”44 ii. Access to Lindela Without independent monitoring, it is very difficult to confirm statements and promises made by the DHA. A recent example was when the Director General Apleni, in an effort to excuse the long detention periods experienced by detainees at the Lindela Detention Centre, claimed that the detainees were "lying" about their names and countries of origin, and that this was the reason for the extended detentions.45 The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) responded against these xenophobic comments, disputing his unsubstantiated generalisations to the Minister of Home Affairs.46 If access was granted he would be able to defend his claims and could be held accountable. On 30 November 2011, Medicin Sans Frontier (MSF) requested access to Lindela in order to conduct an independent medical assessment of the state of health care provision at Lindela. The Chief Director of the Immigration Directorate for the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Modiri Mathews, denied the request on 21 December 2011.47 In his denial, Mr Mathews asserted that: “The Department of Health and Chapter 9 institutions such South African Human Rights Commission have oversight responsibilities of the Lindela facility relating to its compliance with adequate medical standards and human rights respectively”. Mr Mathews concluded that “permission cannot be granted as the Department is satisfied with the arrangements it has in place in this regard”.48 As a result of this response from the DHA, MSF is requesting that the South African Human Rights Commission conduct an independent and transparent medical assessment of Lindela. Lawyers for Human Rights, Section 27, Solidarity Peace Trust and PASSOP have endorsed their request and the urgent need for intervention. Despite the difficulty of access, we were able to interview detainees inside the centre, by appearing to be visiting one person and then speaking to all those we were able to come in contact with. The rules for visiting allow only visiting one person at a time and no pens may be brought inside so we were only able to ask qualitative questions. In these interviews with current detainees, family members outside Lindela, immigration lawyers, former detainees and deportees who had been through Lindela, we recorded several examples of blatant disregard for legal procedure, court orders and human dignity. One Ethiopian detainee who has been in Lindela for over 6 months informed us that there are “more than 150 Ethiopians inside Lindela with the majority having stayed for over a year now”.(See Box #5) We met the family members of other Ethiopians inside and they had also been in detention for longer than the three month limit. We cannot confirm whether there are as many as 150 Ethiopians inside Lindela who have 44 Taken from interview with researcher 45 Mhlana, Zodidi. The New Age. Reported at LRC.org. 4 April 2012. http://www.lrc.org.za/lrc-in-thenews/1883-2012-04-04-home-affairs-dg-prejudiced. 46 Mhlana, Zodidi. The New Age. Reported at LRC.org. 4 April 2012. http://www.lrc.org.za/lrc-in-thenews/1883-2012-04-04-home-affairs-dg-prejudiced. 47 Correspondence from Chief Director of the Immigration Directorate for the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Modiri Matthews to MSF. 21 Dec 2011. Quoted in correspondence from MSF to PASSOP. 48 Correspondence from Chief Director of the Immigration Directorate for the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Modiri Matthews to MSF. 21 Dec 2011. Quoted in correspondence from MSF to PASSOP. 30