AN elderly citizen living in the Gauteng informal settlement in Komani, spent her Sunday looking after her bedridden daughter.
The Rep reporter met the 59-year-old woman while she was fetching water from the public tap and walked with her to her small shack.
The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said, “I started my day at 5am, I was praying with a broken heart, because my daughter can’t walk and she’s been lying in bed since May.
“I wanted to go to church today in Ezibeleni, but I could not because I have to take care of my daughter who is bedridden.”
She had been given pills but her legs had not improved.
Her daughter, who asked to remain anonymous as well, and used to work at Nonesi Mall said she was stressed about her children and grandmother.
“I can not walk, I feel pain in my legs. I am depressed, I am the only breadwinner at home, my grandmother is not working, I have two children that are under eight years old and I do not know how I can get help.”
The grandmother said they were surviving on R370 per month.
“I was told I will only qualify next year in February for a grant and we also have to buy medication for my daughter.”
Cape Town general practicioner Dr Vuyo Socishe said he recommended that the family take the woman to the hospital.
“It could be a lot of things like meningitis or TB of the spine – the best thing right now would be to go back to hospital and to have tests to find out the real cause of her being unable to walk.”
