PRETORIA, South Africa—Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa line up December 21 to make an end of the year deadline to apply for a permit to legally work. The South African government has threatened to deport all those who don’t apply. But most have not and hundreds of thousands lack the necessary papers to do so. “We work here to provide food for our kids and family,” said Washington Chiore, a 31-year-old bricklayer from Zimbabwe. While South Africa has an unemployment rate of 25 percent, many Zimbabweans emigrate here because of the much more desperate situation in their own country. Lawyers for Human Rights estimate there are at least 1.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, out of a population in Zimbabwe of about 12 million.

—WILLIE COTTON