Durban - A 35-year-old KwaZulu-Natal woman has undergone the first of many surgical procedures to restore feeling in her right hand after her partner hacked both her arms during a domestic dispute earlier this week.
Happiness Nxumalo recalled how her partner took a bushknife and attacked her in front of her two-year-old daughter on Tuesday before taking his own life.
Nxumalo said her boyfriend began fighting with her on Monday night.
"On Tuesday, he took a big knife, a bush knife, and cut both my hands. He hit me all over my body and my head. I was hurt very bad and there was a lot of blood all over the room. My two-year-old was crying and I was crying," she said.
Nxumalo, a teacher, said the man then took a rope and committed suicide.
She said she ran to call her neighbours who alerted an ambulance service.
Nxumalo was rushed to a local clinic and thereafter airlifted to the Netcare St Augustine's hospital where she is due to undergo a series of operations and medical interventions in order to restore feeling in her right hand.
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Speaking to the media, Nxumalo's surgeon, Dr Steven Simango, said Nxumalo suffered multiple cuts and deep wounds to both arms, her back and had a fractured skull.
"Her left arm is a stump. She has lost sensation in her right hand after a major artery was severed," he said.
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Simango said Nxumalo's life will never be the same.
Acting premier in KZN, Ravi Pillay, visited Nxumalo ahead of her surgery and condemned the act of violence.
He said Nxumalo's daughter and two other children were being taken care of as the Department of Social Development had deployed a team to assist.
