These were the words used by Daisy Booth shortly after burying her friend as a pauper at the Mdantsane NU15 Cemetery recently.
The deceased, Wena Fourie from Johannesburg, died a few weeks ago in Mdantsane under the care of Booth.She was 50 at the time of her death.
In terms of the Health Act of 1977, it is a municipality’s responsibility to pay for the removal and burial of the body of a destitute person or of an unclaimed body.
If the person dies in a hospital or another institution, then it is the responsibility of that hospital or institution.
Booth said letting Buffalo City Metro (BCM) bury Fourie was her only option one that she immediately regretted after the funeral.
«She was treated like a dog all her life and now she is buried like a dog,» Booth said.«It is so sad how she was buried.I will never forget it.It’s a wound in my heart.She deserved a decent send-off.»
Fourie’s body is now in one of the thousand unmarked paupers’ graves in the Mdantsane cemetery.Both her parents and other family members are buried in Johannesburg.
Booth said she and Fourie had only been friends for a year but their families had a «long, long» relationship that went back «many years».
Booth had been sharing her house in NU14 with the departed for the past year.
Unable to work after suffering a stroke, Booth and Wena, who had epilepsy, were forced to survive on government grants.
Booth looked after Fourie until she died from an epilepsy attack a few weeks ago.
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Because of their circumstances, Booth, also aged 50, could not afford to give her «best friend» a decent burial.
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