- As explained more fully supra, two of the interviews were eventually excluded from the quantitative sample for methodological reasons; one interview was voluntarily terminated and the other diverged from our random sampling criteria (ie. the individual 'self-selected').
- Men and women are detained in separate compounds at the Lindela facility. Proportionally, the number of women detained, as a percentage of the combined total detainee population is very small. Our sample is proportionally over-representative of women.
- For example, for the month of October 1998 the percentage of Mozambicans accommodated at Lindela was 68.4 percent, indicating a variation of 4.5 percent from the mean since August 1996.
- It may be significant that the figures provided by the Lindela authorities account only for "illegal immigrants." These statistics apparently include South African citizens detained at Lindela. The practise at Lindela is to issue all detainees with an identity card when they are first brought into the facility. The information included on these identity cards includes the name and the suspected country of origin of the detainee. While some detainees claim South African citizenship, no detainee is recorded as having South African citizenship on these identity cards. Rather their citizenship is recorded as that which the officials presume it to be. Therefore, the overall statistics for country of origin provided by Lindela are likely to be inflated for countries such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe (the countries we found to have been most commonly incorrectly listed as countries of origin for South African citizens).
- Note that the same statistical anomaly in Lindela's statistics exists in terms of legally resident non-citizens as for South African citizens. It seems that legally resident non-citizens detained at Lindela are incorrectly included in the country of origin breakdown for "illegal aliens".
- 21.6 percent of our sample thus claimed legal status in South Africa by these two categories. By comparison, Lindela's figures for the period from August 1996 to October 1998 show that 11.7 percent of the persons admitted to the facility were eventually released on account of their lawful status. It may well be the case that legally resident non-citizens are less likely to be released from Lindela than South African citizens.
- Other law enforcement officials include traffic police officers, railway and harbour officials.
- Section 53(1) of the Aliens Control Act (96 of 1991) mandates officers of the SAPS to arrest persons prescribed by section 41 of the Act.
- During our interviews we obtained direct evidence of the release of citizens wrongfully detained at Lindela. We know that at least three of the persons interviewed by us were released on the day of their interview. At least one other person we interviewed was subsequently released as a citizen. This release only occurred after we intervened by contacting his family members who were able to provide identification documents proving his South African citizenship to the Lindela authorities. At the time of our intervention this individual had been prevented from contacting his family and had been scheduled for removal form the country as a Mozambican national. See Leon Ntshingila, infra, interview #142 (22/05/98), Appendix A.
- Although a number of the non-citizens interviewed by us during the course of our investigation presented to us documentation which established a prima facie legal residency, we found no direct evidence of the release of non-citizens claiming to be legally resident in the country during the course of our investigation.