The online tension between Nigerians and South Africans was exacerbated Thursday on social media, with Bolt and Uber drivers in both countries unfortunately being at the receiving end.
Per Business Insider Africa, the trend involved Bolt/Uber users in South Africa requesting rides in Nigeria before canceling when the driver arrived at the pickup location. Nigerians also retaliated by doing the same, and TechCabal reported that the trend was seemingly initiated by South Africans.
Several users on X shared screenshots of the pranks and the correspondence between the drivers and individuals who requested the fake rides. The inconvenience is said to have impacted the cost of Bolt rides in Cape Town and Johannesburg as there were huge price surges. Several South Africans were also left stranded because of the price surge and their inability to request rides.
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The chaotic trend resulted in Bolt ultimately blocking multiple accounts that made the fake ride requests while intercountry ride requests were also limited by the company, TechCabal reported. The trend also highlighted the loopholes in intercountry ride requests and how users could use that feature for malicious purposes.
“I drove from Cape Town to Stellenbosch to pick up a customer only to realise it was a fake request,” a Cape Town-based driver told the news outlet. “That’s almost 50km worth of fuel gone because of internet jokes.”
A driver in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos added: “This is inconsiderate to our plight. At a time that fuel is scarce and also expensive, no reasonable person should be doing this.”
Bolt’s country manager for Nigeria, Yahaya Mohammed, responded to the trend in a statement, saying that the company is “aware of the incident involving fake ride requests between individuals in Nigeria and South Africa.”
“We have successfully taken measures to resolve the issue of fake ride requests affecting our driver-partners, particularly those operating in Nigeria and South Africa. The integrity and safety of our platform, both for driver-partners and riders, is our utmost priority,” Mohammed added, per Business Insider Africa.
UPDATE: Nigerians have successfully created maximum Bolt surge in Cape Town and Johannesburg, rendering most South Africans stranded over unavailability and expensive rides. https://t.co/Juc7K7N0Ry pic.twitter.com/7vYIF5PcJy
— Nigeria Stories (@NigeriaStories) August 22, 2024
South Africans are cruel with the Bolt thing they started, but you know what is also cruel? The Nigerians retaliating, because you know who is suffering at the end of the day? Innocent people trying to feed their families.
— Fishpieeeeeeee. (@i_am_feezah) August 22, 2024
This recent incident comes after former Miss South Africa competitor Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina withdrew from the competition, citing her decision to do so for the safety and well-being of her and her family, Face2Face Africa reported.
According to the BBC, the 23-year-old law student pulled out a day after the Home Affairs Department’s preliminary probe found that her mother might have used “identity theft” to get South African citizenship.
Adetshina has previously revealed that she was raised in Cape Town after being born in Soweto, a township close to Johannesburg. In talks with the media, she also disclosed that her mother was a South African of Mozambican heritage, while her father was a native of Nigeria.
Nonetheless, a social media storm erupted around her background, with several South Africans doubting whether she was indeed a South African. This also sparked an online debate between South Africans and Nigerians as they traded jabs on social media.
