News24 YouTube/Facebook/Monet van DeventerA kindhearted gas station attendant who helped a stranded woman has been hailed a hero, and rewarded handsomely with the equivalent of eight years worth of pay.
21-year-old Monet van Deventer stopped to fill up her car with gas on the outskirts of Cape Town while driving to work in the South African city.
However, after stopping at the Shell garage, Monet realised she had left her bank cards at home and had no way to pay for her petrol. Worst of all, she faced driving through a notoriously dangerous part of town, where she could have easily become stranded.
News24/YouTubeLuckily, Monet had a Good Samaritan looking out for her in the form of 28-year-old Nkosikho Mbele, a station worker who have been helping to serve her.
Caring Nkosikho dipped into his own money to cover the costs of Monet’s fuel, making sure she wouldn’t end up getting stranded on the risky road ahead.
A deeply grateful Monet returned later that same day to repay Nkosikho, and even set up a crowd-funding appeal to reward him.
The story of Nkosikho’s generosity resonated with people throughout South Africa and beyond, with the crowdfunding page reaching £26,600.
Nkosikho Mbele says Thank You to South Africa
Nkosikho Mbele, the petrol attendant who won the heart of the nation when he paid for a patrons fuel, would like to thank everyone for their support.He also has an important message to share with South Africa.Video by: Robin-Lee Francke
Posted by Daily Voice on Tuesday, 4 June 2019
As reported by the MailOnline, Monet gave the following account of her conversation with Nkosikho:
I asked the petrol attendant to hold off putting in fuel because I couldn’t find my purse and after a few minutes I told him that I had left my money and cards at home.
I said I would chance making it to work but he just said “No ma’am you can’t run out of fuel on the N2 it is too dangerous” and said he would put R100 of his own money into my tank.
She proceeded to explain how his thoughtfulness had made her day:
I was so shocked as it was such an amazing gesture and it made my day. I decided to make his kindness public and took to Facebook and then set up a crowdfunding page for him.
I couldn’t imagine people of South Africa both black and white would embrace his kindness in such a way and now Nkosikho has closed the account as he says he has too much money.
News about Nkosikho quickly spread, with many expressing their admiration towards him. However, his newfound fame has caused him some quite serious anxieties over his own safety, with concerns about another person from his township stealing the money from him.
With this fear in mind, Nkosikho requested crowdfunding site BackaBuddy hold onto the money, using it to build him a house, pay his kids’ school fees, and cover his bills.
According to the MailOnline, Nkosikho said deciding to help Monet was down to his ‘faith in God’:
The lady had no money to carry on her journey safely to work.
I know how dangerous that stretch of the N2 is that she wanted to travel and my faith in God told me it was the right thing to pay for her to travel safely so I bought her fuel for her.
I was just happy to see her drive away knowing she would arrive where she had to get to safely and I had no idea that I would have my life so blessed in return for what I did.
Monet van Deventer/FacebookNkosikho’s good deed has not gone unnoticed by his employers at Shell, who have matched the donations he received with the condition he give the money to a charity of his choosing.
Nkosikho added:
I now have R500,000 from Shell to donate to charity and I want to help young people and make a difference in their lives and I have R500,000 to look after my own two children.
I am going to use the money I have to make the big man up above us all very happy.
Well done to Nkosikho Mbele, who has shown us all how a simple good deed can inspire countless others.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.