Cape Town woman's good deed ends with hefty fine
What was supposed to be a random act of kindness has turned into an awful experience for one woman from Cape Town.
Have you ever done a good deed, only for it to backfire on you?
That's what happened to a lady in Cape Town after her act of kindness landed her a R2,500 fine after officials accused her of dumping.
News24 reported that it costs Cape Town over R350-million per year to deal with the cost of illegal dumping.
A member of Cape Town's utility services said that fines could range from anywhere between R500 and R5,000 - depending on the severity of the case. Not only do perpetrators have to pay for the offence, but the mode of transport used to dump the items will also be seized. An amount of R7,500 has to be paid to release the vehicle for the first offence, while the second and third offences cost R10,000 and R15,000 respectively.
According to IOL, Cher Poznanovich recently got someone to help her clean out a storage room. As you would know, over time one can collect many unwanted things.
Read: High Court orders suspension of dumping at Shongweni Landfill
She collected a lot of leftover wood, and she wanted to leave it at a local dump site. But en-route, she saw a homeless man who is an artist and uses wood for his creations.
Being the kind person that she is, she stopped to donate the wood to him, and to see if he wanted any. That's when law officials came through and accused her of dumping the wood. When she tried to video what was happening, she was asked to remove it, and then was issued with a fine of R2,500. Ouch!
My producer has attempted to make contact with the authorities to get their side of the story, but is still waiting to hear from them.
I was a bit taken aback to hear about this. Yes, I know there are always two sides to a story, but is this not simply a case of a woman who just wanted to do a good deed to help someone in need?
After chatting to Cher during my show on Monday, she revealed that the fine against was dropped. She received an email this morning saying that she no longer had to cough up.
Have you ever done a good deed and it backfired on you? Share your stories with me.