Over a million Zimbabweans, many of them living in conditions "worse than emergency situations", face arrest and deportation when the government's December 31 deadline for the regularisation of residence expires.

The Department of Home Affairs said last week that it had received about 123000 applications for regularisation and had processed about 40000 of them.

But a conservative estimate by Lawyers for Human Rights - the estimate supported by People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty - puts the number of Zimbabweans living in South Africa at about 1.5million, which means about 1.3 million might be left out in the cold.

In a briefing paper released this month, international aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said that fear of deportation will drive many of the Zimbabweans whose residence in South Africa is not officially sanctioned to go underground in Johannesburg's inner-city slums, where they face "appalling conditions".

Braam Hanekom, co-ordinator of Passop, said that when people were threatened with deportation they would "go deeper underground" to evade the police.

"And when they deliberately look for places like that, it exposes them to criminal elements," said Hanekom.

Medecins Sans Frontieres has identified 82 slum buildings in Johannesburg's inner city "where an estimated 50000 to 60000 people live in appalling conditions".

"These spaces are overcrowded, with subdivided rooms in warren-like conditions. There is very poor or non-existent sanitation. People have difficult or no access to water, and they lack proper waste management and disposal," according to the aid organisation's briefing paper.

Gabriele Santi, project co-ordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres in Johannesburg, said conditions in some of the slums were "absolutely below any standard of an emergency situation", similar to refugee camps in disaster zones.

A survey by Medecins Sans Frontieres of 504 inhabitants in 30 slum buildings compared their living conditions to minimum standards set by international humanitarian organisations. The survey determined that:

• 71% share a toilet with more than 20 people;

• 49% share a toilet with more than 100 people, acceptable only in a severe emergency;
• 38% share a tap with more than 200 people;
• 7.5% have no access to water;
• 84.5% have less living space than 3.5m² per person, and 22% have less than 1m² per person. About 17% sleep on the floor with no mattress.

Medecins Sans Frontieres runs a clinic at the Central Methodist Church, in Johannesburg, at which medical staff give about 2300 consultations a month.

The clinic treats HIV, respiratory tract infections, TB, diarrhoeal and other gastrointestinal conditions, sexually transmitted diseases, skin conditions and stress-related ailments linked to overcrowded conditions.

Lawyers for Human Rights has echoed concerns that the December 31 deadline for applications to be received by the Department of Home Affairs is not "enough time".

It last week complained to the Public Protector about the Department of Home Affairs' refusal to extend the deadline, but Minister of Home Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said "extension of the deadline is not going to happen".

She said the department would cut some red tape, such as the requirement that an applicant for residence had a passport, provided the applicant had proof of applying for one. Fingerprints on application forms would no longer be required.

The department would not, she said, begin deportations until all the applications it had received by December 31 had been processed. It would not accept applications after that date.

Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs, yesterday said that the processing of applications was "going okay".

When asked if the department foresaw thousands of Zimbabweans missing the deadline, he said: "This is the first time we're documenting illegal Zimbabweans in South Africa. I think only when we are through with these processes will we know [how many there are]".

One resident of a Johannesburg slum, who wanted to be known only as Mary, said she had "no idea" what was happening to her application.

Sitting in her small shack inside an industrial building in Doornfontein, she said that, despite the terrible conditions, it was better than going back to Zimbabwe because "I can do some domestic jobs here, at least".

Speaking over the blaring music from three surrounding structures, Mary said she had submitted her application and now has nothing to do but look for work - and wait.

Her room contains only a bed, a small stove, her bags and a tub for washing up.

"I'm worried, but there's nothing I can do about it.

"I'm just waiting. If somebody can just help me with any domestic work because I don't have enough money to move," she said.