OPINIONISTA: Activist Anna Motase did not have to die without dignity

This year, the DA buried activist Anna Motase after she died from Aids-related complications at Tembisa Hospital. She leaves two sons, aged 17 and nine. She also has a brother, Steven. Anna had an RDP home she shared with her children, while her brother stayed in the back room. Steven does not have a full-time job and the children don’t get any grant money.

People in the area passing by would cross the road rather than walk directly in front of the house – a testament to the stigma still prevalent in our communities about HIV-Aids. According to answers I got from the Gauteng Department of Health, there were 13,202 patients, either HIV-positive or with Aids, with 987 new patients testing positive from January to June 2019. With these numbers, I cannot understand how a hospice can be closed, or not supported. Tshwaranang Hospice in nearby Midrand has also closed, leaving only Edenvale Hospice, about 20km away.

When Steven arrived at the hospital, he was handed a black bag containing his sister’s belongings. In it were the clothes she was wearing at the time of death, along with the sheets she had soiled as she took her last breath. Building up to Anna’s death, I made multiple calls to various social workers, in the Gauteng legislature and in Ekurhuleni, pleading for help for this family as neither Councillor Guerriero or I were trained or had the resources to deal with the situation. But we could not walk away.

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