Jobs come calling after unemployed dad reunites businessman with his phone

They say one good turn deserves another, and an encounter at the weekend between a Durban businessman and a jobless Capetonian has proved it.

Sbu Siponpo has a job interview on Friday thanks to Sergio Coelho, who was so impressed by the father-of-four’s honesty and determination to return a lost phone that he posted about it on Facebook.

And Siponpo, 33, from Khayelitsha said the good news couldn’t have come at a better time. “I was at the Waterfront on Sunday looking for work because I lost my job recently,” he told TimesLIVE.

"I have four children aged 12, seven, three and one, so I really need to find a new job as soon as I can."

Coelho, the owner of a cleaning company, said he was in Cape Town to visit friends at the weekend when he dropped his phone in the car park at the V&A Waterfront.

In his Facebook post, he said: "On Sunday evening around 10.30pm I received a call on (girlfriend Melissa Russouw’s) cell, from which we were calling my phone all afternoon, from a guy who said, 'Don’t worry I have your phone and will bring it to you on Monday.'

"This was too good to be true but I went and met up with Sbu at the Waterfront. He arrived with a big smile on his face and said, 'There you go,' shook my hand and started to walk off without asking for anything.

"I called him back to stand next to me for a photo and placed a couple of hundred rands in his hand for returning my phone.

"What an overwhelming thought that there are still honest people with great intentions out there that can be trusted."

Coelho appealed to anyone in Cape Town who might be able to offer Siponpo a job to get in touch, "as he has proven his loyalty and honesty in these hard times we live in".

By Thursday, Coelho told TimesLIVE he had received four messages about the possibility of work for Siponpo, mainly in shops.

Siponpo said he had been a waiter for 18 months, but lost his job towards the end of 2018.