Golden Arrow Bus Services, which has been in the spotlight after a bus driver left an 11-year-old boy stranded, forcing him to walk about eight hours home, has offered the primary school pupil free rides in an attempt to make amends.

Lifalethu Mbasana, who goes to a school in Simon's Town and lives in Khayelitsha, was kicked off the bus and forced to walk eight hours home after he lost his bus card. The incident sparked public outcry and the company has issued an apology, saying the driver has been suspended.

Golden Arrow can confirm that company policy is to assist uniformed scholars in situations where they have lost their Gold Cards. The driver who failed to do so has been suspended,” the company said.

Lifalethu's mother, Siba Mbasana, expressed her dissatisfaction with the company's initial response.

“If they don't fire [the driver], he needs to be taken to a different route or whatever. I don't want to see that man. God forgive me.

“I don't know what will happen if I ever take a Simon’s Town bus and my son happens to tell me that 'this is the bus driver that kicked me out and separated me from my siblings',” she said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye4vExZkt40?si=MariSi427YFOsVIb

The incident unfolded when Lifalethu, travelling with two younger siblings, lost his bus ticket during boarding.

“The siblings had their bus ticket and went inside. My eldest son lost his ticket. The bus driver said to him 'you are wasting my time. Get out. We need to leave. If you don't have a ticket, you get out now. We need to leave',” Mbasana recounted.

Despite Lifalethu's attempts to rectify the situation, the bus departed, leaving him alone.

“My younger son actually wanted to double tap to pay for his brother, so obviously they said that's not allowed. The bus left my son behind, leaving my two younger children to go on their own. He started to walk,” the mother said, visibly shaken.

Left without means to contact his family, Lifalethu embarked on an arduous journey on foot.

“Usually he knows how the path goes so he followed the bus. He was exhausted. He went under a bridge to sleep with the people there, to regain strength. I think he was a bit scared because he's never been outside during that time. He was overwhelmed and scared,” Mbasana said.

The young boy continued his journey for hours in the dark, making his way from Muizenberg to Capricorn and into Strandfontein where he sought help from passing motorists to no avail until a compassionate group offered him a ride to Mitchells Plain.

“He says that it was Nigerian people who gave him a lift to Mitchells Plain,” Mbasana said.

When the boy arrived there he was helped by a kind man who walked with him to the Spar store five minutes from his home. He was recognised by police who accompanied him home where his mother was waiting anxiously.

“I remember when I was receiving my child at the gate from the law enforcement people (after 10pm). He looked fine. He's my first born so he always looks strong. He's always calm, never panics.

“But when I saw him, I broke down, obviously. He gave me a hug. He reassured me that he was OK. But when he went inside the house he was limping. The entire day yesterday (Tuesday) it was just me taking care of him. He was limping. His body was sore. The bag he carries is so heavy and he walked for eight hours to get home,” she said tearfully as she tried to control her emotions.

Mbasana said she was contacted by a Golden Arrow manager who offered Lifalethu free rides.

“They said they wanted to give my son some type of a free ride for this term. Maybe it's three months or the entire year or whatever. I don't know what they mean, but they said they wanted to come to my house on Saturday,” she said.

Joy Maimela, chair of the parliamentary portfolio committee on basic education,said she was distraught about the incident.

“Everyone understands that companies have rules and regulations. This driver should have assisted the learner, especially since it is his company's policy. He should also have been compassionate to the plight of the grade 6 learner. We all know that it is not always safe out there for our children,” she said. “It is completely unacceptable that this was allowed to happen. It is clear that the driver did not think of the boy’s safety.”

In response, Golden Arrow reiterated their policy and urged parents to ensure their children could contact them in emergencies.

“In circumstances where unaccompanied minors are making use of our services, we ask parents to assist us by ensuring that their children are able to contact them in an emergency,” the company said.

The incident has sparked conversations about safety measures on public transport, with renewed calls for accountability and vigilance to protect vulnerable passengers.

Sources:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.timeslive.co.za/amp/news/south-africa/2024-07-25-golden-arrow-offers-free-rides-to-boy-11-who-had-to-walk-eight-hours-home/

https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/35km-walk-home-for-pupil-after-bus-driver-bars-him-over-ticket-2d35c355-8ece-43ad-b164-ce6ac03aa9ec

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Something they can't do.

Nigerians are good people.

As bad as our name (Nigeria) may be to other countries, we still have people with good hearts among us.

It's natural,

The young boy can still be blessed with Billions.




C h a i..

The driver is very heartless, I can't even do that to an adult let alone a child..... Another annoying thing was that he even had the mind to separate him from his siblings, that was mean.







Thank God say driver nor be Nigerian, we for don see world war3.

If this happened in Nigeria, we'll be hearing something like
they demanded 20 million for the kid
While police will be like we're putting pressure on the kidnappers, they'll soon release him smh

ThankGod for the boys safety and kudos to our Nigerians that gave him a lift.

You can see there's limited or no commendation for the Nigerians who helped the boy.

Imagine it was for a wrong reason, our ears would have been blocked from the public outcry.

Damnit!
This could have been me during my teenage years, had it been my co-passengers were just as heartless as this driver!
Imagine trekking from Ogun state to Ikoyi, Lagos !

Igbos very extra ordinary people even when the odds are against them.

A whole 35 kilometers walk back home? Such wickedness. It’s like walking from Ojodu Berger to the Shagamu interchange for the little boy.

That driver should not be suspended. He should be fired and sent to jail for such high level insensitivity. Thank God that he arrived home safely.

God bless good Nigerians out there doing good things.

Nah the Bus driver dem wan take do scape goat..

Was he not working under instructions? Or has he been instructed to carry kids without Bus card?

His fellow south Africans couldn't give him a lift

Nigerians should be allowed to drive the buses

Another day to remind you that human beings can be very wicked.

Even devil will be amazed....

It still won't stop some SA people to exhibit their xenophobia against law abiding Nigerians.

The driver made a really poor and shabby decision.

Kudos to the Nigerian for offering to help.

GeneralPula:
Nah the Bus driver dem wan take do scape goat..

Was he not working under instructions? Or has he been instructed to carry kids without Bus card?

When you read well, you understand. Go back and read what was said word by word for better understanding of how it all went.

Thank God for the nigerians. Assuming the boy fainted in the car, and something not nice happened, those that saw the boy walking home without helping him will be the first to attack and burn their vehicle down. SAns are not that nice to Nigeria, they see us as rivals wherever, who is bigger than you is bigger than you in all ramifications.

Today must be Christmas...

The first time I hear this OP say anything positive about Nigerians.

Or is my eye paining me!

Meanwhile, this humanitarian act of kindness will never eliminate the xenophobic mentality of his country men toward Nigerians.

Great news

Nigerians are certainly the Greatest people on earth.......Once God use Nigerians take reason your matter, just know say God don codedly pick your calls.

Just that,na media dey paint us bad,and our bloggers and social media outlets down here ain't helping matters as well...

Who cares?
Death to all Kaffirs and Nayope weed smoker in Africa.

Nice move from my Nigerian bro.
I pray the SA people don't pay us back with evil

South Africa is economically stable than Nigeria.No caps but if this thing happened in Nigeria forget that guy will make so much fortune that he will doubt his educational ambitions again.

Obi cubana wey wan trend and co will push the guy with enough money .

Nigeria be giant of Africa for this part reason.

As one of them said " Money na water".