Two Zimbabweans refugees died in a South African detention centre last week whilst awaiting deportation to Zimbabwe, our Botswana correspondent has revealed.

One was a pregnant woman who died of complications after allegedly failing to get proper medical attention. The other was a man who had been ill for just a few days.

The clinic at Lindela, the holding camp for refugees facing repatriation, is said to be badly equipped to handle serious cases. Correspondent Don Mafingenyi said over a 1000 refugees were forcibly deported from Lindela by the South African authorities last week, in spite of protestations.

Mafingenyi was part of the large group that was deported. He said he was wrongfully arrested in Johannesburg on a visit there from Botswana and described the experience as 'shocking'

He said Zimbabwean refugees, detained as various centres in South Africa, are treated like criminals. Speaking to us from Gaborone on Monday after making his way through Zimbabwe, Mafingenyi saw first hand the dehumanising conditions detainees are made to live in.

Faced with often crowded conditions and little contact with the outside world, he said the mental well-being of detainees deteriorates very quickly. Still suffering from a bad cough he contracted during his three week ordeal in detention, Mafingenyi told us how spending even one night in a detention centre can be a harrowing and frustrating experience for refugees. 'You are subjected to beatings by the immigration officers. Fifteen people are forced to share a cell meant for 3 people. During the night all you hear are screams of people being tortured. It's just horrific. In life I never thought I would experience such a thing.'
He called upon the United Nations to probe cases of abuse and torture inside South African detention centres.
The UN convention against torture Article 14 prohibits sovereign states from any form of physical abuse against refugees detained in their countries.