Nduduzo Mncaku, a third year Tourism Management student at DUT, struck it lucky on Friday last week (23 January 2015) when he scored R3402, just for paying his bills.

Oblivious to his imminent luck, Mncaku was paying for his registration fees at the University’s ML Sultan Campus cashiers when the daring superhero – Budget Bill Blaster – spotted his bill and paid it on the spot.

The Budget Bill Blaster is part of the Pay Your Bills initiative by Durban’s East Coast Radio and Budget Insurance which runs during the beginning of the year for three weeks. During this time, the Budget Bill Blaster, dressed in a blue tight-fitting spandex superhero costume, heads to the streets in search for someone who has just paid their bills and blasts it into the past.

“Yesterday (Thursday, 22 January 2015), we paid for someone’s new car tires in the Bluff area,” said the Budget Bill Blaster. “Today (Friday, 23 January 2015), we know that so many students are struggling at this time of the year. It’s a bit of a sucker punch for many of them to hand over so much money.

I hope we can do it (pay for student’s bill) again before the campaign is over. We (East Coast Radio) have a very good relationship with DUT. I’m also a proud DUT graduate. I studied journalism here before the merger so it’s good to come back and make someone else’s dreams come true,” said the Budget Bill Blaster.

With his registration fees being fully paid by the Budget Bill Blaster, Mncaku said he would use the cash towards his tuition fees for the year. “I’m very excited. This is the first time I’ve won anything. Thank you for this amazing prize,” he said.

– Sinegugu Ndlovu

Pictured: Nduduzo Mncaku, the third year DUT Tourism Management student whose bill was paid by the Budget Bill Blaster at the University’s ML Sultan Campus cashiers on Friday last week (23 January 2015).