Sometimes all one needs in life to make it through difficult times is a helping hand. For Bonga Sithole, that person was Sisanda Qwabe-Coutaud who provided him with a roof over his head.
“I tend to intermigrate and interperambulate vicinities in close proximity.” Those are the now-famous words that shot Sithole into the spotlight. The eloquent man went viral as people took videos of him and shared them on social media.
Now, he is off to rehab for a two-month stay, according to a recent video shared by Qwabe-Coutaud on Twitter.
Entering REHAB IN STYLE... see you in 2 months.. Thank you so much for all your support and prayers! #uyozeawuchithe #FIFAWorldCup #chucky #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/EBw5X9yNwu
— Sisanda Nomusa Qwabe-Coutaud (@SisandaQ) November 24, 2022
The road was not easy for Sithole. Mzansi’s “most articulate beggar” carved out a living in Auckland Park, Johannesburg by asking for money and food from passing motorists. He was well-known to students at the nearby University of Johannesburg campus.
In an interview with YouTube’s Nkululeko n Cultr, Sithole revealed that his parents split up when he was a child and he had to spend time between Zola where his mother was, and Rustenburg, where his dad lived.
Sithole said he went to an Afrikaans school and his future looked bright.
“From a tender age, I had a very broad cerebral. My father loved me for that. He tried his best to invest in the growth of my education,” he told the show’s host, Nkululeko Nkewu.
However, his trouble with homelessness started when his father, a taxi boss, was shot dead.
According to him, he was supposed to be the heir to the taxi business, but he heard rumours of people plotting his murder and he had to flee for his life. As a result he was not able to finish high school and dropped out in Grade 9.
“The taxi industry can be very mean, to the point where my own family was disputing over my father’s estate. I was his only son and I had to carry on his legacy,” he said to Nkewu.
Sithole has now landed a voice-over gig with finance specialist company Fundi. The organisation first appealed to social media users to find the elusive Sithole.
Dozens of people helped by alerting them to where they had just spotted him and he was found. The rest as they say, is history.
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