A section of Safaricom customers have been met with a rude shock after they received messages that their ‘Bonga’ points have been deducted to pay for their outstanding ‘Okoa jahazi’ debts

“Dear customer, we have deducted 16 Bonga points for 5 KSH to repay your Okoa loan. Your new Bonga points balance is 27. Thank you,” one such message read.

Upon inquiry, the country’s largest telco explained they will be deducting bonga points to settle outstanding ‘Okoa jahazi’ debts that are over 15 days old.

“Please note, Bonga points will now be used as an automatic Okoa recovery payment method to offset delayed Okoa loans so as to reduce Okoa debts. This will apply to customers who have unpaid Okoa debts for over 15 days,” Safaricom’s message read.

This came as a shock to many subscribers who enrolled on the ‘Bonga’ points loyalty program with other intentions, such as redeeming the points for shopping, phones, fuel or a meal at an authorised restaurant.

The affected subscribers took to the social media platforms to register their complaints and here are some of their reactions: