How Bolt’s cross-country feature fueled Nigeria-South Africa row

For two days, Bolt and Uber drivers were victims of a feud between Nigerians and South Africans. Riders from both countries misused the ride-hailing apps’ inter-country ride request feature to fuel an ongoing dispute.

“Bolt is aware of the fake ride request incident between some individuals in Nigeria and South Africa,” said Yahaya Mohammed, country manager of Bolt Nigeria.

Tension began earlier in August when Chidimma Adetshina, a model, withdrew from the Miss South Africa contest after a public outcry due to her Nigerian roots. Adetshina, born in South Africa to a Nigerian father and a Mozambican mother, faced backlash over her roots. She was later invited to participate in the Miss Universe Nigeria contest.

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The incident sparked the long-standing tension between citizens of the two countries, and both found an unlikely vehicle to gain an advantage over each other. On August 21, Uber and Bolt users in South Africa allegedly started booking fake rides in Nigeria. Drivers were lured to misleading locations and had these rides cancelled.

South Africans shared screenshots of this prank on social media, prompting a retaliatory response from Nigerians. “South African bolt drivers go too suffer this morning, we go lower till we find oil,” tweeted @FaruqBashar on August 22.

The volume of fake bookings surged, leaving legitimate riders stranded. An unverified video on X showed a street in Johannesburg crowded with Bolt and Uber rides waiting for their non-existent passengers. According to Mohammed, these users exploited the ride-hailing app’s international order feature introduced 11 years ago to enable seamless orders and cross-border requests.

“It is a feature that has helped a lot of customers around the world. We are available in 50 countries, and up until recently when we had this abuse, it has been a feature that has worked very well for a lot of people,” he said.

Bolt had to block an undisclosed number of accounts involved in the hoax. “Following a thorough investigation and the implementation of enhanced security measures, we have addressed this issue swiftly by restricting inter-country ride requests. Additionally, those responsible for this malicious activity have been identified and held accountable by blocking them from the Bolt app,” Mohammed stated.

He explained that the company blocked the high volume of orders from Nigeria and South Africa, traced IP addresses from both countries, and restricted them from ordering outside their home countries.

However, drivers in both countries bore the brunt of this conflict.

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“I have received so many requests just to waste my petrol,” Tshikovhi Joy, a South African Bolt driver, said on a Facebook group.

Mohammed confirmed that the company was investigating the incident during an interview on an Arise TV program on Friday.

“Currently, we are carrying out an in-depth analysis of the rides that were booked, and then the kilometers that the drivers wasted, and then seeing whether there’s room for that. At the moment, it’s something that is currently being discussed, and my communication will go out to drivers in the next few days,” he said.

Bolt and Uber drivers weren’t the only victims of the prank. By the evening of August 22, screenshots surfaced online showing Nigerians placing fake payment-on-delivery orders from restaurants and electronics stores.

There were also Nigerians who went to online relationship sites and requested to be linked with new friends.

“Someone told me to wait for him in a street in South Africa, only for me to find out after two hours that the whole thing was a hoax,” said Lethabo Francina on her X handle.