She was a Zimbabwe Exemption Permit holder, and she died early in the morning at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, delayed and in great discomfort as an emergency patient forced to pay before receiving treatment.

Her name was Nokuthula Mguni. Mother of three daughters - Ayanda, Amanda, and Shiloh. She spent most of her adult life working so that they could have a better one. She put two of her girls through university; Shiloh is preparing to start high school. Her smile could light up a room, and her laughter would echo across an entire floor.

She dressed to kill. "You don't have to look like your problems," she would say to anyone who would listen. Her favourite story about coming to live and work in South Africa (SA) was that the only thing she left behind was a sandal, lost while crossing the river.

She arrived with nothing but ambition and nerve.

She died at four in the morning on 16 April at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg.

She was a Zimbabwe Exemption Permit holder. A foreigner, yes. But also a woman who had spent 15 years building a life in this country, paying taxes, raising her daughters, and contributing to the community around her. She was about to become a grandmother. She had earned every inch of the life she had made.

None of it counted when she needed help most.

I want...