http://www.drum.co.za1 AUGUST (^2019) | 17
DAILY
SUN,
SHARON
SERETLO
LEFT: Betty’s daughter Anna
Tshabalala is also bedriddenaft
surviving two car accidents
which led to several surgeries.
RIGHT: Betty’s granddaughter
Thando helps take care of her.
was in pain for a long time but I didn’t
know where I was injured,” she says.
She says it took Pholosong Hospital in
Tsakane seven years to give her a diag-
nosis, and she had hip-replacement sur-
gery on her left hip in 2007. “I was not as
flexible as I had been before but life was
back to normal,” she tell us. “I was able to
walk and drive myself to work”.
She soon started having difficulty
walking again and doctors told her her
right hip needed to be replaced too.
Then, 10 years later, she was in
another crash when an armoured
truck crashed into her parked car
at a shopping mall. “The vehicle
knocked my car and dragged it
with me inside.”
The damage was severe. “I went
to Tambo Memorial Hospital. I had
fractured my right hip, which
caused the replacement to shift.”
Doctors said they couldn’t operate
because Anna was too heavy and
needed to lose weight.
“I cry every day looking at what
my life has become. I have to sit like
this every day staring at this mirror,”
she says, pointing to the dressingta-
ble opposite her bed.
“Through this mirror I see mylife
becoming useless every day. I want
to get up and go but I can’t.”
Anna used to work at a laundromat in
Boksburg as a tailor and should be eligi-
ble for compensation from the Road Ac-
cident Fund (RAF).
When DRUM contacted the RAF to
ask why she has not been able to get an
RAF certificate, RAF acting chief market-
ing officer Adriaan Taljaard says the RAF
has considered the fault element and is
satisfied with that aspect of the claim but
it is still in the process of considering its
liability before dealing
with the quantum of the
claim (the total amount
paid out by the RAF
ased on assessment of
e claim). That’s no com-
forAnna. Her life, she
y become a curse – for her
andforothers:“Ihave to call my family
to comelockmeinside because I am
scared. They come and open during the
day.I feellikea prisoner in my own
house.”
OnthedaywemeetAnna, her sister,
53)is there. “I come
ereto help her and
mymother but I also
havea house in Mpu-
malanga and I have to
back,” Lydia tells us.
been looking for a
wants to work for free.”
WhenAnnaneedsto go to hospital,
threeambulancesanda fire truck have
tocometoher tinyhouse to help her.
“I think the paramedics will soon re-
fuse to come here because it’s a mission
to even get the stretcher out. I feel like I
am a burden to everyone,” she says.
Anna is desperate to lose weight. Like
her mom, she is following a low-carb diet
and a dietician regularly administers ap-
petite-suppressant injections. “I pay
R800 a month for the injections. I had to
change my diet to veggies and no starch.
If I can get rid of this extra fat I think
they’d be able to fix the hip replacement.”
The tears start streaming down Anna’s
faceagain.
“I am always depressed. I’mtoo
oung to be living like this.”
fter
p
b
the
fortf
says, has
LEFT: Betty
Shabangu broke
her left leg
(CIRCLED) in
2001, which she
says added to
her weight
struggles. She
hasn’t been able
to walk since.
Onthedaywem
Lydia Mahlangu( 5
h
m
h
m
go
“We’v e
helperbutnoonew
Wh A d
LEFT and RIGHT: Mother and daughter
haven’t seen each other in three years.
While stuck in their beds, the ladies
pass the time by doing some creative
handwork.
e
t
yo
singke
(singke)
#1