This Cape Flats oupa who is dying of cancer says he would like to get his own house before he dies.
The 53-year-old says he’s been on a housing waiting list for 24 years, and has lived in a blikhokkie for most of his life.
Joseph Masalay, who has stage four cancer, currently lives with his wife Johanna between the flats in a hokkie in Nerina Street, Kewtown.
The couple does not have
When he goes for his treatment at Groote Schuur Hospital, nurses allow him to use the bathroom facilities where he washes himself.
Joseph says he didn’t want “any trouble with authorities, but should my day come, I wish to die with dignity”.
He shows the Daily Voice a letter from the cancer clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital requesting that authorities provide him with a home with running water and electricity.
DEATH WISH: Cancer sufferer Joseph Masalay, with his wife Johanna, wants a home where he can die peacefully
The couple lives on his disability grant and Johanna is unemployed.
Every day he wakes up at 5.30 am and heads to Groote Schuur where he receives cancer treatment.
The only heat the couple has comes from a fire Joseph makes inside the hokkie.
“I have been sick for a long time and recently the doctors sent me with a letter to the rent office in Kewtown. They are supposed to give me a home. I am going to die if I live like this for much longer,” he says.
The couple have three sons, of which two passed on, and one lives with his skoonmense.
Joseph says he doesn’t feel like fighting the cancer any more, as he sees no point.
“I don’t want to die like this, please help me,” he said sadly.