Bolt says according to verified trip data and platform records, Simthande Myeza requested a ride in the afternoon of 17 June at 15:03 PM.
Bolt has vehemently denied allegations that popular TikToker and actor Simthande Myeza was abducted and robbed, during an e-hailing trip in Durban.
In a statement released last week, Mzeya’s family spokesperson Lomsongaka Myeza said: “The Myeza family would like to inform the public about the latest events related to their son Simthande Myeza.
“On Tuesday evening, 17 June 2025, Simthande was abducted aboard a Bolt ride in the Umbilo area of Durban. One African male was driving the car when he boarded. Realising that the car was taking a strange route, he asked the driver to make a U-turn. That’s when the driver got agitated and eventually stopped the car. Two other African males approached the car and one of them pointed a gun at Simthande. The other one blindfolded him, tied his hands and they drove with him to an unknown location.
“There, they accessed his phone, cleaned his bank account of every cent he had. Upon realising who he was, they went on to make phone calls to his family members, colleagues and friends and demanded a ransom. When they got the money, they stripped him off his clothes and took pictures and videos of him while forcing him to perform despicable acts.
“In the early hours of Wednesday morning, they asked him to confirm his residential address and requested a ride for him. They instructed him not to do or say anything stupid, or they were going to come after him and his family. We can confirm that the matter was reported to the police and Simthande remains in a safe place where he is surrounded by family and friends.”
Responding to the allegations, Lerato Motsoeneng, senior general manager at Bolt South Africa, says: “As a platform that values safety and accountability, we take all safety allegations extremely seriously.”
According to Motsoeneng, after the June 17 incident, which was reported on social media, the e-hailing firm launched a thorough internal investigation.
“Based on the available data, we can confirm that the incident described did not occur during a Bolt trip. We also have strong reasons to believe that the drivers who took trips from locations relevant to the incident had nothing to do with the incident,” he says.
According to verified trip data and platform records, Motsoeneng adds that Myeza requested a Bolt ride in the afternoon of 17 June at 15:03 PM.
He points out that the Bolt algorithm always matches riders and drivers in real-time, based on a number of factors, which means that the driver would not have had prior knowledge of the rider’s identity before the match occurred.
“The trip was completed by a driver-partner, and the drop-off point was recorded approximately 114 metres from the originally requested location. This falls within the expected margin of GPS accuracy. We can confirm that the rider and driver were alone in the vehicle. We subsequently checked the driver’s details and found out that he has been driving using the Bolt app since December 2024.”
Motsoeneng notes that Myeza said in a media statement that the incident took place around 20:00 the same evening. “Our records do not show any Bolt trip activity associated with him during that time.
“The return trip that was mentioned in the social media post was also identified. There was a different driver than the first trip, ordered from a different rider account. The driver was matched to the order the same way, following our matching algorithm, meaning that the driver could not have had prior knowledge of who would order the ride.
“We have officially shared all our findings with the relevant authorities and are committed to fully cooperating with them. Our safety and operations teams continue to support law enforcement by providing all relevant trip data. Bolt’s systems maintain secure and tamper-proof records that include time stamps and geolocation details, which show that the platform was not involved in the incident described.
“Based on the findings of the official investigation, we will decide whether to pursue legal action against any claims that turn out to be slanderous against Bolt.”
