MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICHARDT) – State attorney, Ms Mashudu Munzhelele, can still clearly remember the road accident in which her spinal cord was seriously injured. The accident occurred on June 26 when she was on her way to the periodical court at Alldays.

Ms Munzhelele recalled the incident and spoke from the Johannesburg General Hospital's neurological ward, while she was waiting to be transferred to the Afrox Rehabilitation Clinic.

"It was around nine o'clock when I saw this oncoming vehicle, a green bakkie loaded with vegetables, coming into my lane of driving. I swerved to the other side, but my left wheels were already off the road. The bakkie collided with my vehicle and drove off without stopping. In the meantime, I tried to control my vehicle, but it overturned," Ms Munzhelele said. The only part that she cannot remember was when the vehicle rolled down the bridge.

"But I never lost my consciousness. I was aware that I was lying in the car down there for about 45 minutes before people from around approached the car and saw that there was a person inside."

Ms Munzhelele remembers that people carried her to the road where they waited for a passer-by with a cellphone. Eventually someone managed to phone Mara Police Station and the ambulance.

"I waited one and a half to two hours for the ambulance to arrive," Ms Munzhelele recalled.

"That driver in the bakkie just drove away, though he must have seen what was happening."

Ms Munzhelele was taken to the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital and from there to the Pietersburg Medi-Clinic. On June 30 she was moved to Johannesburg where she underwent a back operation.

Sister Lindi Ntsuntsha of the neurological ward of the Johannesburg General Hospital confirmed that Ms Munzhelele had undergone an operation for decompression fusion of the spine. Ntsuntsha declined to give an opinion on whether Ms Munzhelele will be able to walk again. She said, however, that she was impatient to have Ms Munzhelele moved to the Afrox Rehabilitation Clinic to start with rehabilitation and exercises. The delay seemed to be on Pretoria's side. They were awaiting the papers from the Workman's Compensation Commissioner. Once at the rehabilitation clinic, Ms Munzhelele's progress will determine how long she will have to remain there.

"I can't say if I will be able to walk again. I am still very shocked," Ms Munzhelele said. She continued that if she could walk again, she would probably return to the Magistrate's Office in Louis Trichardt, but if she could not walk again, she might ask to be accommodated elsewhere. She would, however, stay in the legal profession.