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When Petunia Sibanda came to South Africa from Zimbabwe in 2003, she arrived the way most people she knew did in those days – late at night, crossing over a dry patch of the Limpopo River that slices the two countries from each other, pretending not to see the crocodiles in the distance.
2003年，佩妮亚·西班达从津巴布韦来到南非，她和当时认识的大多数人一样，在深夜穿过分隔两国的林波波河的一片干涸地带，假装没有看到远处的鳄鱼。
For several years, she lived her life in South Africa on the margins, constantly afraid her lack of legal status would be found out and she would be sent back home to a country where the economy was in free fall.
几年来，她在南非过着边缘化的生活，一直担心自己没有合法身份的事实会被发现，然后被遣送回经济直线下降的国家。
Then Ms. Sibanda found a lifeline.
后来，西班达找到了一条活路。
In 2011, she heard about a special visa for Zimbabweans, which would allow them to live and work in South Africa legally.
2011年，她听说有一种针对津巴布韦人的特殊签证，可以让他们在南非合法生活和工作。
“I could live freely for the first time,” she says.
“我第一次可以自由地生活了，”她说。
But the reprieve was always temporary.
但是这种缓和总是暂时的。
Last November, the South African government confirmed that it would no longer renew the 178,000 so-called Zimbabwe Exemption Permits it had issued.
去年11月，南非政府证实，他们将不再续签已发放的17.8万份所谓的“津巴布韦豁免许可证”。
All ZEP holders, including Ms. Sibanda, had until the end of 2022 to get a different visa, or leave the country permanently.
所有的“津巴布韦豁免许可证”持有者，包括西班达，必须在2022年底之前获得另一种签证，否则就必须永久离开这个国家。
Ms. Sibanda and tens of thousands of others in her position now face an existential question.
西班达和成千上万像她一样的人现在面临着一个生死攸关的问题。
Do they stay in the country where they have made their lives for the last decade, starting families and businesses, and become undocumented?
他们是要留在过去十年来赖以生存的国家(他们在这里组建家庭、创建企业、变成非法移民)呢？
Or do they return to the country they fled all those years ago, where conditions are perhaps even worse than a decade ago?
还是他们要回到多年前逃离的国家(条件可能比十年前更糟糕)呢?
How South Africa handles the issue in the coming months will set the tone in a region that, like elsewhere in the world, is grappling with growing xenophobia amid shrinking resources.
南非在未来几个月如何处理这一问题，将为该地区定下基调。与世界其他地区一样，该地区也在努力应对资源不断减少、仇外情绪日益加剧的问题。
“We love our country, but we have nothing to go back to,” says Ms. Sibanda, whose four children were all born in South Africa.
“我们爱我们的国家，但我们没有什么可回去的，”西班达说，她的四个孩子都出生在南非。
Immigration has long been a hot-button political issue in South Africa.
长期以来，移民一直是南非一个敏感的政治问题。
The country’s relative wealth, developed industries, and expansive legal rights for foreigners – at least on paper – have made it a popular destination for migrants from across Africa since the end of apartheid.
南非的相对财富、发达的工业以及对外国人友好的合法权利(至少在书面上)，使该国成为种族隔离制度结束以来非洲各地移民的热门目的地。
Today, it hosts more migrants than any other country in Africa.
如今，该国接纳的移民比非洲任何其他国家都多。
Simultaneously, though, amid high poverty and unemployment, anti-immigrant sentiment is often used by political leaders to rally working-class voters, and xenophobic violence flares regularly.
但与此同时，在高贫困率和高失业率的情况下，反移民情绪往往被政治领导人用来拉拢工人阶级的选民，而仇外暴力也经常爆发。
In practical terms, ZEP holders are a tiny fraction of South Africa’s migrant population, which is estimated between 3 million and 4 million people.
从实际情况来看，“津巴布韦豁免许可证”持有者只是南非移民人口中的一小部分，估计有300万到400万人。
But their case has taken on an outsize symbolic significance here, becoming a lightning rod in a wider debate about the role of migrants in the country.
但是，他们的情况在这里具有巨大的象征意义，在关于移民在该国应该扮演什么角色的广泛辩论中，他们的情况很容易招惹是非。
