Taxi driver saves man from jumping off bridge

On Sunday night he considered committing suicide, but got the "chance to think twice".

Isaac Dinkebogile, 25, said yesterday: "I am still thinking twice, even now. Emotionally speaking, I am just broken."

Dinkebogile was on the verge of jumping from a bridge on Grosvenor Road above the N1 in Johannesburg when Spencer Kitson, 30, a taxi driver, stopped to help him.

Dinkebogile cannot remember their words: "I was not there. I was just waiting for the cars to stop passing so I can just jump, but they just kept on coming."

But since that evening his life has started to change for the better. Kitson took him home and gave him dinner, wrote about his plight on Facebook and has found him a job.

Dinkebogile has been unemployed for almost two years.

He and his ex-girlfriend have a two-year-old who lives in Orange Farm. Dinkebogile has not seen his daughter in almost a year since he and his ex-girlfriend had a fight.

"It is one thing being alone worthless, but feeling like you are also a worthless father in the process, that is another thing."

Dinkebogile says he grew up in a children's home after his mother was murdered in front of him when he was eight. He did not know his father. He said he had been hurt since he was young. But now Dinkebogile believes there is still hope.

Kitson said he himself had recently gone through a tough time, but was able to call on the help of a friend to see him through it.

"Doing something like this [committing suicide] has definitely gone through my mind very recently.I understand the tough economic times pretty well.