asylum died while waiting in the queue.32 Because there are no medical facilities or first aid at Maitland, the sick man was not catered to. Security officials also engage in corruption, commonly taking bribes so that individuals may be moved to the front of the queue. One SPT report found that touts admitted to be working with police were openly soliciting R150 to take people to the front of the line.33 These deplorable systems of corruption are widely accepted. Fake border passes and papers are also distributed by individuals who, evidence suggests, have connections on the inside.34 We documented respondents who described the process of paying bribes for fake papers. One reported that for R500 one could gain entry to the Maitland RRC. Recently, a miscommunication between border posts and RROs caused great confusion and strife for new asylum seekers. Border posts stopped issuing the Section 23 form, commonly known as the “border pass”, showing proof of entry and providing some protection until an RRO is reached. However, the Refugee Reception Offices were not accepting new applications without a border pass. The requirement of a border pass relies on the assumption that all asylum seekers fleeing for their lives will cross the border through the normal channels. Lawyers for Human Rights won a court case against the DHA over the RROs’ requiring border passes.35 Whether or not the border posts are issuing them, asylum seekers do not generally travel through conventional means. It is unreasonable to expect a genuine asylum seeker to be in possession of a passport or border pass. In April of 2011, South Africa announced it would be clamping down on the 1st country rule, meaning that they would no longer be accepting asylum seekers from nationals who have travelled through another country before reaching South Africa. But threatening to not welcome or document them did not perturb asylum seekers; it just meant they could no longer come in through regular channels. IRIN News reported on the increase in border jumpers that followed this announcement.36 The Refugee Reception Centres were turning people away for not having border passes, while the borders were turning people away because they had already been through their 1st country. This would have made accessing documentation very difficult in 2011, fostering a larger community of undocumented migrants vulnerable to arrest and deportation. b) The Zimbabwe Dispensation Project In order to reduce the number of Zimbabwean nationals applying for refugee permits in these conditions, the South African government sought to regularize the stay of undocumented Zimbabweans through the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project (ZDP) between September and December 2010. Zimbabweans were offered free temporary work, business and study permits for four years if they applied with a valid Zimbabwean passport and a letter from their employer in South Africa. The department received 32 IOL News. “Man beaten at Cape refugee centre.” 26 January 2012. <http://www.iol.co.za/news/crimecourts/man-beaten-at-cape-refugee-centre-1.1221249> 33 Solidarity Peace Trust: Desperate Lives, Twilight World. Report. Johannesburg: 2010. 34 PASSOP: The Road to Documentation: Asylum-Seekers’ Access to Cape Town’s Refugee Reception Centre. Report. Cape Town: May 2011. p. 7. 35 IRIN. “South Africa: Asylum Seekers Resort to Border Jumping” 9 February 2012. <http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/news/zimbabwe/51482/south-africa-still-no-clarity.html> 36 IRIN. “South Africa: Asylum Seekers Resort to Border Jumping” 9 February 2012. <http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/news/zimbabwe/51482/south-africa-still-no-clarity.html> 16