E/CN.4/1999/15/Add.1 page 17 the possibility of an appeal by the immigrant (i.e. the chance to present his case before the competent authorities) before repatriation takes place, this right is apparently never respected. 61. In addition, the conditions of confinement or detention are often difficult (police cells in particular are not suited to long periods of detention). Reports mention the poor food, the sharing of cells with people who have committed criminal acts, and harsh treatment by police officers (made all the more easy by the fact that the illegal persons’ status makes it more difficult for them to gain access to official legal channels), all of which has apparently led to the death of a number of immigrants while in detention. 62. Recently, efforts have been made to improve the conditions of detention, at an experimental transit centre called Lindela, at Dyambu Youth Centre. The centre, which was visited by the Special Rapporteur, is some 100 kilometres from Johannesburg. It is managed by a private company, the Dyambu Trust, which has undertaken to convert huts formerly used by black South African miners into a detention centre for immigrants without papers. The company provides the detainees with accommodation, food and care. Eighteen officials of the Ministry of the Interior supervise the centre and carry out the formalities involved in admission, release and repatriation. The detainees can receive visitors, and have access to a telephone; also at their disposal is a large courtyard surrounded by high walls and guarded on the outside by specially trained dogs. 63. The centre houses a thousand people, 24 to a room. There are 48 men’s toilets and 3 for 20 women. When the Special Rapporteur visited on 3 March 1998, the centre had just taken in 46 illegal immigrants including an Egyptian, an Indian and 46 Mozambicans. At that time the centre housed some 20 women. The illegal immigrants who arrive at the centre come from all parts of the country. They stay 5 days on average, the time it takes to organize their repatriation. Repatriation is done by train to bordering countries and by air to more distant countries. The detention period may take longer than a week if a migrant without papers refuses to give his nationality or the authorities in his country do not cooperate in his repatriation. The Special Rapporteur noted that only detainees from black Africa were present at the centre (mainly from Mozambique and Zimbabwe) and saw no Egyptian, Indian or European, contrary to what he had been told. 64. Other than the name of the company that runs it, which carries with it the illusory promise of a better future (“Dyambu” means rising sun in Venda), the Lindela centre does provide adequate facilities for the transit of people who appear to be relatively well treated. The managing company’s contract expired in April 1998 and is being renewed. The company is planning to build a second transit centre to accommodate around 1000 people, which is an indication of the increasingly restrictive nature of South African policy on migrants. 65. Apart from the violence sometimes associated with the arrest and detention of illegal immigrants, it seems that the police are not always keen to assist in protecting immigrants against attacks from sections of the population (as illegal persons find access to legal channels difficult, police negligence is easily overlooked). Testimony from other sources has described the corruption that exists among the police officers and officials responsible for immigration