This story was written by Timo Wright, during his work shadow at 2oceansvibe. Give it up for Timo, people!

Nkosikho Mbele, a petrol attendant at Shell Ultra City, has become an overnight celebrity after he paid for a customer’s petrol fee when she was unable to find her credit card.

According to Mbele, “I could see that her fuel gauge was low and when I asked her if she would make it to her destination she said she wasn’t sure”.

With crime at a high recently in South Africa, Embele decided to extract R100 from his own wallet to make sure she made it home safely.

“I wasn’t thinking about the money or if she was going to come back,” says Mbele. “I didn’t expect her to pay me back.”

Well, she did a lot more than give him his R100 back, starting a crowdfunding campaign on BackaBuddy to raise funds for the young attendee and his family.

As soon as the campaign was released onto the internet it skyrocketed, and raised nearly R500,000 by 9:45AM on Tuesday.

Shell chairman, Hloniphizwe Mtolo, responded to the public by donating another half a million rand to a charity of Mbele’s choice.

Mbele has decided to leave the money donated to him in the possession of BackaBuddy, and it will be used to pay for the education of his two children, as well as their living expenses.

I live in a dangerous area, Khayelitsha, and I don’t want people robbing me for it [the money].

Let’s meet Mbele quickly:

Mbele’s good deeds have earned him a nomination for the “Shell Excellence Award” as a South African representative. Mtolo had to confirm with Mbelethat he was, in fact, going to the awards in Zanzibar, because he stated that he’s still in disbelief.

“God is good,” he said, “if it comes from your heart, you will be rewarded”.

Mbele will travel to Zanzibar soon to the awards ceremony, where hopefully he will be rewarded for his kindness.

[sources:timeslive&timeslive]