Brazilian tourist tracks down Capetonian to return his phone

There are angels among us.

That is what Business Insider journalist James de Villiers said after he forgot his iPhone in an Uber and a Brazilian tourist‚ Gustavo Souza‚ spent two days tracking him down via his friends on social media – returning the phone to him in Cape Town fully charged.

“There are also such angels amongst us.”

De Villiers said most South Africans were cynical about this good deed.

“Everyone’s reaction was‚ ‘He was not typically South African. If it was a South African‚ the phone would have been gone’.”

De Villiers said, however, this was the second time he had lost his phone in an Uber.

“The Uber [driver] went out of his way [to return the phone].”

De Villiers forgot his phone in an Uber on Friday evening while travelling with friends to Long Street in the Cape Town CBD. He spent the night at a friend’s flat and realised it was gone when he tried to set his alarm. His friend called his phone and it was still ringing‚ but no one answered.

On Saturday morning De Villiers found Souza’s inbox message on Facebook. Souza wrote: “Since I do not know if the driver would return [it]‚ I picked it up to deliver it to you.”

De Villiers’ first thought was: “What?! That’s amazing. I could not believe it.”

De Villiers believes Souza got his contact details from the medical information on his phone. De Villiers only realised how important one’s phone is after he lost it‚ especially for banking.

“I could not do anything‚ because I pay pocket money into my account every week‚ so I did not have any money to spend‚” De Villiers said. “I have this bank card‚ but I cannot use this bank card‚ because there is no money in the account‚ because I cannot log into the internet banking.”

De Villiers wanted to reward Souza with a South African gift by buying him biltong‚ “The local Woolies (Woolworths) did not have biltong‚ so I bought him a big Lindt slab.” 

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