Johannesburg: South Africans have opened their hearts and wallets to Wiseman Ndabezitha, the BP petrol attendant who was tricked, scammed and embarrassed on video by a snide motorist who drove off without footing his petrol bill, much to the anger of people on social media.
The snide motorist, who recorded the incident before fleeing the Hilton BP petrol station after paying just R20 in two R10 notes, had made the petrol attendant pour R210 instead.
The motorist in the video purports that he requested “two tens” (as in 2 x R10), instead of the R210 Ndabezitha poured for him.
In their exchange, a dumbstruck Ndabezithais seen being helpless as the motorist protests requesting R210 fuel.
On Wednesday, after much outrage about the callous treatment of the petrol attendant, social activist lawyer Tumi Sole rallied the troops on Twitter after making contact with Wiseman and his boss Wayne Smith.
Sole shared Ndabezitha’s bank account details and the donations quickly started flooding into his account.
undefined#CountryDuty
— Tumi Sole (@tumisole) September 9, 2020
Managed to chat with Wiseman.
The customer didn’t pay for the ⛽️ but Wiseman’s employer sorted it out.
Thanks @Leholosiane for the digits
Wiseman sends his regards.
banking details:
Bank: Nedbank
Account no: 1169324568
Current account pic.twitter.com/XSk6xaCpYw
The so called customer thought Wiseman would be fired or money deducted from his salary.
— Tumi Sole (@tumisole) September 9, 2020
Little did we know that Mzansi will step in.
Thank you all ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/CW37Zid2WT
Speaking to IOL on Wednesday, Ndabezitha said his bank balance had been less than R100 at the start of the day, but he now had at least R11 289.
The father of three boys, who lives in Sweetwaters in rural Pietermaritzburg, said he wants to thank every single person who had donated to him and said he would be releasing a video to social media to show his gratitude.
He dreams of building his mother, who lives in a mud house, a brick and mortar house.
“I cannot believe what the people have done for me, they have really really helped me, I am filled with so much gratitude,” he said.
“I had less than R100 in my bank account this morning, now there is more than R11 000, I do not believe it.
“I will do a video to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to me.”
Ndabezitha said although he also lived in a mud-house, he wanted to build his mother a house first.
He said he had posted the video on WhatsApp and Facebook just days after he was scammed in a bid to help other fellow petrol attendants to remain vigilant.
When he recalled the incident, he said, he was terrified that he would have to pay for the money from his own pocket.
“This thing really affected me and I thought let me share the video on my Facebook and WhatsApp, so that other petrol attendants should be careful because when this happens you stress a lot, because you worry that the money will have to be paid by you and we don’t have money to waste, it is very stressful,” he said.
Ndabezitha said the video started circulating on Twitter and TikTok and he would have people come to the petrol station to ask what happened and he would chat with them and tell them the story.
But the outpouring of support, coupled with cash donations is something he did not expect.
“There are many tricks that motorists try with us, we try our best to be vigilant, but this can happen to anyone.
“To everyone that has contributed, I am really grateful,” he said.
Smith, who owns the petrol station with his mother, said the incident happened in January and the video of the incident surfaced a few days later.
“When stuff like that happens, we cannot hold the staff accountable for that, we just have to take a knock in these incidents unfortunately,” he said.
Smith said about a week after the “R210” incident, other motorists made similar attempts with “2 x R50” requests.
He said these failed as they had since asked the petrol attendants to ask the motorists to specify the amounts in question in a clear and unambiguous way.
“These things happen, there are scamsters everywhere,” Smith quipped.
“We have really been surprised by the attention that this has got so many months later, Wiseman is an amazing person with a big heart, he is always willing to go the extra mile to help.
“People have been calling him all day, right now he is in my office handling all his calls from there as we speak because his phone has been going mad since this morning. We realised today’s not going to be an ordinary day for him,” he said.
“What the people are doing for Wiseman is really humbling, I am really happy for Wiseman,” he said.
R210 SUPPORT FOR WISEMAN
undefinedundefinedundefinedFam,
— Kgopolo Mphela (@PhilMphela) September 9, 2020
If you have R210 to spare, let’s do the right thing. After the humiliation Wiseman received from this inconsiderate guy, let’s put a smile on his face and turn this into a win.
Let’s send Wiseman ama-R210#R210ForWiseman
I’m doing it now. Bank details on tweet below pic.twitter.com/eS872scbiN
#R210ForWiseman I love this country 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/wE5uaxKibt
— uBaba Weletrik (@uMkhonzeni) September 9, 2020
It's on days like when I'm really proud to be South African, may all are donating to Wiseman be abundantly blessed !!#R210ForWiseman pic.twitter.com/iB0cq8QIsM
— 🇿🇦Mntungwa🇿🇦 (@_s_k_1_4) September 9, 2020
IOL