The notorious Lindela Repatriation Centre is bursting at the seams with foreign nationals detained there waiting to be transported back to their home countries.
The recent wave of xenophobic attacks has seen the state conducting raids to round up illegal immigrants.
But it's not clear if this facility in Krugersdorp would be able to cope with more people.
Families queue outside the centre to see their loved ones who have been detained by police and brought to this facility.
At the entrance are Bosasa Security guards who screen every person entering the centre.
No cellphones are allowed inside and no one is allowed to enter without an identity document.
One man shouted in the queue: "If my sister-in-law had given me the right police station, my brother would not be here today. She sent me to Pretoria while my brother was in Honeydew."
The man complained he would have been able to pay a bribe at the police station on time and freed his brother before he reached the centre.
Inside, it is a different world.
There is a room equal to the size of a double garage with wire mesh and CCTV cameras all around.
At the end of the wire mesh there is a slot where families can drop off food for their loved ones.
The place is crowded and extremely noisy, but somehow everyone is able to have a conversation.
Only men are on the other side of the wire and visitors are predominantly women with babies on their backs.
Fathers receive money through the wire mesh and squeeze their faces through to get kisses from their children.
Among the men are Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Tanzanians, Mozambicans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and a few Chinese.
The men do not know their fate.
Some have been in custody for more than three months, waiting to be repatriated.
Finally the interaction ends, and the women leave the centre with less hope than they had walking in.
"I do not know what they expect me to do without my man. If they take him back to Mozambique what will happen to me and my baby," asked one of the women as she left the centre in despair.
Since the spread of xenophobia last month, the government has been raiding various parts of the country.
On Sunday, police raided Thembelihle informal settlement near Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, in the early hours of the morning.
A total of 50 people were arrested during the raid which was conducted by the police, members of the SA National Defence Force, metro police and officials from home affairs.
Some of the arrested people include illegal immigrants, those caught in possession of drugs such as dagga, as well as those with illegal and dangerous weapons.
Raids have also been held in a number of hostels in Gauteng and police have warned more are coming.
Government spokeswoman Phumla Williams said it would not be surprising to see an increase in the number of people at the centre.
She said the repatriation process was not quick as it involved other countries.
"There has to be some kind of interaction between the department and the country of origin ... These countries have to confirm that the person is indeed their citizen. The pace at which this correspondence takes place differs from country to country."
i have been there to see my loved one no one in this world deserves to stay in a place like that its smelling like a pigs place South Africa has no sympathy to a human being thats why even its residents are even brave to kill people its govenment trains them its so sad what a neibor
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