Easter Sunday, March 31, brought relief to the worried family of an elderly woman, Emely Mashaba (82) from Sand River in Hazyview, who was reported missing but has since been found alive in hospital.

According to one of her daughters, Linah, Emely was located in Mankweng Hospital with a broken leg. They were told she had been found on the side of the road with injuries. It is suspected she had been hit by a car.

“We noticed she was missing after the bus she travelled on came back without her. Those travelling with her, some church members, said she was nowhere to be found when they were preparing to return. They assumed she must have used another bus. We thought maybe she might have gotten a lift and that she would come back, but we got worried when another day went by without any sign of her, and her phone was off,” said Linah.

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Emely had travelled from Mpumalanga to the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) in Limpopo, as Easter sees many members of this church arrive from across the country.

Linah said they circulated her mother’s photo on social media, asking people to help them locate her. The family also decided to travel back to the ZCC to look for her.

“The church members in Limpopo were very helpful as they assisted us in looking for her in the nearby bushes, clinics and hospitals. The police were also alerted. Mankweng Hospital contacted our family on April 3 after they had admitted someone who looked like Emely. Upon our arrival at the hospital, we found her. We were so relieved to have found her alive,” Linah said.

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She said the hospital’s staff told them Emely was brought to them on March 31 by ambulance, after she had been found unconscious next to a road. She doesn’t know what had happened to her, but they believe it was a hit-and-run. “Currently, she is stable and is supposed to undergo an operation on her leg.”

The hospital was waiting for her family to sign consent for the operation on her behalf.

“We are hurt. She was hit by a car that did not even stop and left her to die on the road. However, for now, what matters is that she is alive and we are in the process of transferring her to the nearest hospital. We would like to thank everyone who assisted us in locating her,” Linah said.