“It is hard to be old in this country.”
For six months, 73-year-old Emma Lewis* lived in her car.
She spent her days wandering around shopping centres. At night, she would try to sleep in parking lots for as long as possible before being chased away.
“I have never been more scared in my life,” she said.
In the months before, Emma was thrown out onto the streets and she lost everything she had worked her entire life for, including her friends.
“It is amazing how you can have all the friends in the world, but when you have no money, no one wants anything to do with you,” said Emma, speaking to the NEWS for the first time after her ordeal in 2010.
“For those six months, my so-called friends would not even let me park my car in their driveways. It was shameful. They were scared I would bring down their image.”
“I could only park at Eastgate and other shopping centres for so long before the guards would tell me I have to go.
“I would drive around for a while looking for a safe place to get some sleep. I would spend a few hours here and a few hours there, and sometimes I would even park my car two or three houses from my so-called friends. If anything happened to me I could easily swallow my pride and ring their doorbells for assistance,” said Emma.
Living on her state pension of little over R1 000, she found solitude in feeding the homeless and abandoned pets on the streets of Malvern once a week.
“I would choose the company of an animal over the betrayal of a human any day.”
Her ordeal played out, unbeknown to the busy Johannesburg, between mid-2010 and the beginning of 2011.
On Christmas day 2010, I sat in my car at Eastgate Shopping Centre and watched as families laughed on their way to have lunch or dinner.
“I have always lived a simple life,” said Emma.
She grew up in an orphanage in Johannesburg and said it taught her to appreciate everything she had.
“I put myself through university and obtained my master’s degree,” said Emma.
25 years ago, Emma moved into a small house in Malvern, which she rented.
For two decades she spent every penny she had turning the tiny house into a home.
Emma ran a small bakery business, which supplied cakes and cookies to two stores in Johannesburg.
“Every penny, every bonus, went into that little house,” she said.
The man who owned the house said of all the tenants he had, she was the only one who looked after the property.
“He told me that when he died, I could have the little house as a reward for all the work I had put into it,” said Emma.
“I was ecstatic. Finally, after all those years, I would have my own little home,” she said.
After his death, Emma cared for the man’s aging wife and continued to rent the tiny home. A family member convinced Emma’s former landlord’s wife to sell her house, along with Emma’s little home along with it.
Shortly afterwards, the old woman was placed into a nursing home and Emma was kicked out of her little home.
A friend offered Emma an outside cottage in return for answering telephones at her husband’s business.
“It was nothing more than a renovated tool shed, but it was all I needed. I could not take all my furniture and my friends were quick to jump in and help me get rid of everything I owned. They took my furniture and my antiques, which they either sold or gave away,” said Emma.
While she lived on her friend’s property, Emma planned to move into a state retirement home.
“I had my heart set on staying in Kensington, but when I asked about a unit in the state-owned retirement facility, I was told the available units needed to be refurbished. I said I would take a rundown unit and fix it myself, but was told it could not be done.”
She was shown a number of places, including a home in Turffontein. When she arrived at the property, the caretaker had to kick in the door to the unit because it was swollen from the rain.
“The unit was filthy. The carpets were so dirty that they were slimy. The caretaker said I was the fourth person he had shown the unit to that day and he was greeted with the same response each time,” said Emma.
Unit after unit Emma was shown followed the same pattern.
“I thought it could not get any worse, but each unit I was taken to was worse than the ones before. In one of the units, the stove and cupboards were so rusted that they could not open,” she said.
Before she could find a retirement unit, Emma’s friend who she had lived with told her she had a paying tenant waiting to rent the cottage and she had to leave.
“Just like that, she kicked me out,” said Emma.
She moved the few belongings she had left into her car and started her journey on the streets.
“I received a few calls from the department for units. Some cost R1 000 per month, others needed a three month deposit. When you only have R1 200 every month, R1 000 is too much,” said Emma.
After six months, a social worker heard about Emma’s ordeal and found her a unit in Benoni.
“I love my place. They said I can have it for as long as I need it,” she said.
Emma has since found part-time work as a house-sitter and believes that without the few good people she has encountered, she would still be living in her car.
The NEWS sent a number of enquires to the media desk of the Department of Social Services, questioning the state of government owned retirement facilities.
Since August, the NEWS has received no feedback on any of the questions asked.
*Identity withheld to protect the dignity of the resident.
