Paralysed rugby player Simanga Mandla at the rehabilitation centre where he is recovering. Picture: Supplied
Pretoria - Simanga Mandita, 29, who was paralysed after a rugby incident in the Eastern Cape earlier this year, has received a motorised wheelchair and equipment worth R160 000.
Pick n Pay donated R500 000 to the Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund, which assists players who sustain life-changing head, neck or spinal cord injuries while participating in the game.
This donation was used to buy the 15” Gladiator-powered wheelchair for Mandita and will further aid the fund that supports 87 recipients on an ongoing basis unless they make a full recovery.
Pick n Pay released the reusable green-and-gold Springbok Supporter bag ahead of the Rugby World Cup, and proceeds from each sale have made this donation possible, Vaughan Pierce, an executive at the retailer, said.
“As rugby fans clamour to buy the Springbok Supporter bag, they are helping to change the lives of injured South African rugby players.”
Prior to his accident in February, Mandita played flank for Eastern Cape clubs, including Young Brothers, Debe Nek and Perksdale Mission. “Mandita, who hails from Middeldrift, will not be able to return home due to the lack of infrastructure for disabled people in his hometown. He is at Aurora Rehabilitation Hospital in Gqeberha to give him the best odds of recovery before he moves to a Cheshire Home,” Shoneé Cornelissen, injured player welfare officer at The Players’ Fund, said.
She added that Mandita is in a much better place mentally now than he was before.
“We have arranged for his mother to visit regularly to provide emotional support and spend quality time with him during this challenging period of his life,” Cornelissen said.
Mandita said that the beginning was tough, but the rehabilitation was helping him to heal well.
“I am healing nicely now and am grateful for the wheelchair. I know I cannot walk again, and this wheelchair will really help to make things easier for me.”
Pretoria News
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