Durban – Sasol has distanced itself from a social media comment made by a woman who claimed to be one of its staffers.
The woman, who claims to be a Mbali Mazibuko, was commenting on a post about the deaths of a Stellenbosch couple, Ethan Kirkland and Leila Lees, after their vehicle was found in a disused quarry last week.
The pair had been reported missing days before and their vehicle was discovered submerged in the quarry close to where they were last seen.
In her Facebook bio, Mazibuko claims that she is a branch manager at Sasol.
In a Facebook comment on the pair’s death, she said the deaths were “Payback for Apartheid”.
Her comments sparked the ire of social media users who called on Sasol to take action.
In a statement, Sasol said the post had been shared with its digital team and it encouraged other users to report the comment and profile to have it shut down.
“Sasol is aware of disturbing comments made on Facebook by an individual claiming to be employed by Sasol. These comments were made in relation to a recent tragic story involving two missing individuals in the Western Cape.
“Sasol can confirm that the individual represented in the profile, ‘Mbali Mazibuko’, is not employed by Sasol nor by any of our franchisee retail sites.
“It’s very unfortunate that our name is being fraudulently used by this individual for their own ends on a shocking story,” the company said.
Meanwhile, another woman, KM, said the Facebook commenter had listed her number and said she was not responsible for the comments made.
KM said her phone has been getting messages and calls all day and she had no idea what was going on.
IOL