Bus driver’s good deed does the rounds

WHEN a Durban bus driver stopped his vehicle and got out to escort an elderly passenger across the road from her bus stop, it pressed a button in Vanessa Tedder.

She watched the scene play out from her office at Bread Ahead, a bakery in Problem Mkhize (Cowey) Road.

She was so impressed that she told the world.

This week, she told The Independent on Saturday: “We have been inundated with all the crap on social media that people cannot put into perspective.

“One rant and tirade after the other… you would think South Africa is full of racists and lunatics.

“Actually, there are a lot of good people out there and it’s worth celebrating. People don’t look for people who do good stuff.”

The driver’s good deed took place in full view of a CCTV camera to which Tedder had access.

She offered the footage to the news site www.goodthingsguy.com.

She said the website investigated and identified the driver. He is Albert Phinyani, who had been at the helm of one of the eThekwini Municipality’s People Mover fleets.

The municipality, however, said he operated in the Mynah fleet.

The Independent on Saturday was unable to reach him.

According to an update on the www.goodthingsguy.com report, feedback on the article indicated that Phinyani “is very well known in Durban for his many acts of kindness”.

Unfortunately, the act of kindness Tedder witnessed was countered by a report this week that a Mynah driver refused to lower a wheelchair ramp for a disabled passenger.

Carl Freese was accompanying his girlfriend, Taniel Webb, who uses a wheelchair, when the driver told him that if he wanted Webb to board, he should do it himself.

Webb, 35, has used a wheelchair since she was eight years old after being involved in a car accident.

The municipality said the allegations against the driver were being investigated.