Thanks to the national strike by Coca Cola workers, a condom packet and the sealed cold drink bottle in which a shocked customer found it are still sitting in the shop where the cold drink was bought.
Thanks to the national strike by Coca Cola workers, a condom packet and the sealed cold drink bottle in which a shocked customer found it are still sitting in the shop where the cold drink was bought.
The owner of Discount store in Extension 9, Joza, Rana Elum couldn't believe his eyes two weeks ago when a customer returned a bottle of Stoney ginger beer he'd bought from his shop minutes earlier.
Elum told Grocott's Mail this week he had been shocked when the customer returned the cold drink, still sealed, and pointed out what was inside it. Elum called Coca Cola in Port Elizabeth and was told that one of the managers would come to Grahamstown to investigate.
When a week went by without a word from the company, Elum contacted Ronnie Ullah, the leader of the Pakistani community living in Extension 9. "I took the bottle to the police station, but they told me they don't deal with issues like that," said Ullah.
Elum kept the bottle another week and someone advised them to contact the health department. Last week the Grocott's Mail team visited Elum's shop to see the cold drink and, seeing for themselves the torn Choice condom cover in it, called Coca Cola.
Company spokesperson Chantelle van Wyk said the reason Coca Cola had not yet responded to the complaint was that the workers were on strike. "Serious issues like that are always taken into consideration. We don't ignore any complaints," Van Wyk said.
The cold drink, together with its contents, is in safe-keeping at Ronnie's Car Wash. And the customer? "I apologised and gave him another one," said Elum. "He checked very carefully to make sure there wasn't another condom cover in it."
