Mango has urged customers to contact the airline through its social media platforms.
Image: REUTERS/Rogan Ward
A flight special run by Mango airlines on Tuesday ended in chaos as hundreds of irate customers complained that they did not get bookings despite parting with their money.

Samantha Singh told TimesLIVE she tried to book a flight from Lanseria, Johannesburg, to Durban for Wednesday evening.

“The Mango Facebook page had a special of flights from R299. My flight was R300. I tried five times and out of that I only managed to reverse two payments. I did not get any flight,” said Singh.

“There is just a blanket response, saying, ‘We have a high volume traffic. We have technical issues’.I sat on the phone with Mango for an hour. Neither did I get my booking done nor my refund. I was literally just cut off.”

She said the initial price of the flight she was trying to book was R281.25.

“All of a sudden, the flight went up to R299 and when I called the contact centre to book it, they refused to give it to me for either R281 or R299. They wanted me to pay R450 for it.

“I tried to fight it and I demanded a refund for the money I had already paid.”

“We hope to get our money back because we don’t know what is going on,” Kubamelo Masinge wrote on Mango’s Facebook page. “I am trying to book flights for Cape Town for 28 Feb — 2 March. Your website is pathetic, your contact centre THE WORST! Can I get someone to help me? You run a special, but don’t have the capacity to handle the influx of traffic.”

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“This is terrible service and the lack of response is pathetic!!! You receive payment yet no booking confirmed now the sale is over? Absolutely pathetic. Honour the payments received by delivering on the flights people booked … It’s the right thing to do,” said Pranitha Ramkissoon.

Mango Airlines’ spokesperson Sergio Dos Santos said they had an “overwhelming” response to the special, which led to technical issues.

“There were a couple of challenges. The system ran into difficulty,” Dos Santos said.

He said the airline was dealing with the queries. “We urge our customers to get hold of us through our social media platforms. We will be dealing with the issues case by case.”

Taxi driver Nhlonipho Zulu and mother Ntombenhle Mthembu at the event hosted by Santaco in Richards Bay.
Image: via Facebook
Richards Bay taxi driver Nhlonipho Zulu was left speechless when the SA National Taxi Council rewarded him with R40,000 for helping a woman deliver her baby.

“I was so happy because I wasn’t expecting any of it. It encouraged me and my fellow drivers in showing that if you do the right thing you will be rewarded,” Zulu told TimesLIVE on Thursday.

He said he hadn’t decided what to do with the money.

Zulu, a father of one, was hailed as a hero at the beginning of January after he helped Ntombenhle Mthembu deliver her baby in the back of his taxi. He was about to finish his shift when an eight-month pregnant Mthembu told him she suspected she was about to go into labour.Zulu was travelling between Nongoma and Hlabisa at the time and had to drop off two other passengers before rushing the pregnant mother, in her early 20s, to the nearest clinic. However, on examining her, nurses allegedly disputed that she was about to go into labour. The nurses allegedly told Mthembu to go to Benedictine Hospital about 30km away.

En route to the hospital, Mthembu’s agonising screams forced Zulu to pull over and help her deliver the baby.

News of Zulu’s selfless act caught the attention of Santaco who paid Zulu a visit last Friday.

“We decided to host an event for him just to say thank you. This was important for us to do because taxi drivers are often known for bad things.

“So we asked all the taxi drivers to come so we can encourage them and show them how one of their own did such a beautiful thing and that we would appreciate it if they continued to treat passengers well and respect the rules of the road,” said Santaco KZN chair, Boy Zondi.

Santaco gave him R33,500 in cash and they collected R6,500 from other benefactors.

At the event, held at the Richards Bay taxi rank, the organisation also gifted Mthembu R5,000, a gift pack and 500 Pampers nappies. “I was very helpful and grateful for the gifts and the money even the Richards Bay community donated. I want to say thank you for all they have done for me and they must not lose steam and do what they did for me to other people,” said Mthembu.

Mthembu said that her son was doing very well.

The family of Enoch Mpianzi is devastated by his untimely death. The 13-year-old Grade 8 pupil tragically drowned at a Parktown Boys’ High School orientation camp in North West on Wednesday.

Mpianzi went missing when a makeshift raft he and other boys were on overturned on the Crocodile River at the Nyati Bush and Riverbreak Lodge near Brits.

His body was found on Friday.

Mpianzi’s uncle, Sebastian Kodie Motha, said the family could not hold back the tears when they realised their son would not return home from camp.

News24 visited the family home just hours after they received the devastating news.

The man who shot and killed his whole family in Secunda last week was distressed after his gifted son googled the symptoms of muscular dystrophy – an illness he suffered from, Rapport reported on Sunday.

According to the report, the 17-year-old Hoërskool Secunda pupil was left with several questions about his condition.

On Thursday, André Naudé, 50, shot his son Henko, his wife, Lizelle, 52, and his elderly mother, Tina, 83, before turning the gun on himself, The police were called to the grisly scene on Friday at around 08:00 after Lizelle failed to show up at a school for disabled children, where she was employed as a teacher.

Lizelle celebrated her 52nd birthday on Christmas Day.

Andries Lee of Romans Security had visited the Naudé couple’s house, where he discovered the dead bodies.

According to Rapport, André was upset that Henko had googled about his illness.

According to police spokesperson Captain Gerhard Elmes, Lizelle, Henko, and Tina were all found in their beds with bullet wounds to their left temples.

The police discovered André in the main bedroom sitting on the toilet.