Shell donates half a million to charity but SA is still not happy

Global energy giant Shell found themselves trending on South African Twitter on Tuesday morning after locals found out that the company would be donating half a million rand to charity on behalf of Nkosikho Mbele.

Mbele is the 28-year-old petrol attendant who gained overnight fame after a post about his kindness went viral.

A 21-year-old woman named Monet Van Deventer took to Facebook to share the story of how Mbele had helped her by paying for her petrol one evening after she realised she had forgotten her purse at home.

The post has since been shared over 50,000 times.

Once the post gained traction, Van Deventer started a crowdfunding campaign for him with the aim of raising R100,000. The campaign has since surpassed that by raising over R400,000.

On Monday, South African social media users shared their disapproval of the fact that the funds raised for Mbele’s children’s education would not be paid out to him directly and would instead be managed by the crowdfunding platform on his behalf.

RELATED: Social media up in arms that Nkosikho won’t be getting his 400k

By Tuesday, they had directed their disapproval to Shell after a video of the company’s Country Chair Hloniphizwe Mtolo speaking to Mbele on the phone was shared to social media.

In the video, Mtolo can be heard congratulating and commending Mbele before announcing that the corporation would donate R500,000 to a charity of his choice.

Mtolo also informed Mbele that he would be nominated in the upcoming Shell Service Awards and invited him to attend the ceremony in Zanzibar this coming July where he would be honoured for his act of kindness.

There were those who commended Shell for their donation, like the minister of transport, Fikile Mbalula.

But the praise paled in comparison to the criticism of Shell’s announcement which was compared to the public’s perceived intention of Backabuddy, the crowdfunding platform on which the R400,000 was raised.

The Shell media team could not be reached for comment but this story will be updated with any comments from Shell as soon as they are available.

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