DAANTJIE – The festive season is a time to give and spend quality time with your loved ones, but for a lone 95-year-old pensioner, a black Christmas is imminent as for many years she has spent it alone after the loss of her children and other relatives.
Mpumalanga News learnt that Gogo Nokubonga Zulu has been living alone in a dilapidated one-room shack that can be likened to a pigsty. She is solely dependent on the community for food, otherwise she goes to bed on an empty stomach.
“I have become a child of the community since people always provide me with food and other things that I might need.
I wish I had energy to work for myself as I was able to do things by myself when I was a domestic worker, but due to this illness, I can’t work any longer,” said Zulu.
She said after losing both her children, life is tough as she has been left alone with no one to help her or look after her when she is ill. According to Zulu, her extended family neglected her because they accused her of practising witchcraft.
After realising that her life was in danger as some of them threatened to attack her, she moved from Matsulu to Daantjie.
“Living alone has never been easy.
You need people who you can share your problems with and what makes things worse, is that I am very old and I cannot do some other stuff by myself.
“As you can see, my health is not stable and it is hard since there is no one to help me.” She said instead of enjoying life to the fullest, she is stressed as she is struggling.
“I wish God could take me soon since the life I am living is really torturous,” she said.
It is a pity because Zulu does not remember whether her family home is in Barberton or Mangweni Village.
Locals said there was an incident where they did not see Zulu for days.
When checking up on her, they found that she had been sick and spent all that time without eating.
Good-hearted residents took her to hospital where she received the necessary medication.
But the question was who will look after her? Who will ensure that she takes her medication on time?
“I enjoyed being in hospital since I was well taken care of and I ate healthy food.
“I prayed that they let me stay there forever, but I had to obey the rules that when I am better I have to make space for others,” she added. Zulu stated that if she passed away, she would die painfully as she foresaw that it could happen without her having bid her family farewell.
“I have been sick for quite a while now. If I could die now, who will bury me?
“I do receive a pension grant and it seems enough for me since I am living alone, but you know money will never fix a broken soul,” she said.
