Unwrap the Easter Mystery of Old Joe

The gist of the story was that Old Joe had been demolished over the weekend and pieces of him were to be sold at auction to raise funds for the government to improve the roads. Read the full April Fool’s prank here.

There was a consensus among BUCO, Emnotweni Casino, TRAC and Nkomazi Fuel & Oil that the Lowveld community needed a light-hearted story on a Monday morning that would put a smile on their faces.

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Adam MacIntyre, director of operations and complex general manager at Emnotweni Casino was thrilled with the online response. “I hope that we brought a smile and a bit of unexpected entertainment to the Lowveld.

It is easy to lose sight of the ‘fun’ in our lives with the daily obstacles we face, so being involved in a bit of harmless fun keeps you on track. I am sure Old Joe is relieved that he is not being auctioned off and will be able to oversee Schoemanskloof travellers for at least another 90-odd years.

ALSO READ: Be part of keeping TRAC of Old Joe

Solange Soares-Nicholson, TRAC spokesman, said, “In a world of bad news it is great to have good news, be part of such a good April Fool’s prank and to reveal to the world that this is not true.”

Old Joe is going nowhere; he is part and parcel of the N4 toll route and extremely special to TRAC.”

Pottie Potgieter, general manager of BUCO Nelspruit, loves to put a smile on his customers’ faces and was quick to become involved with the prank.

I feel strongly that we need to make a lot more jokes in this world and have fun to make the world a better place. At BUCO we are a bunch of happy people and we will try our best to bring some good news and jokes to the local community.

 

ALSO READ: Keeping TRAC of BUCO Old Joe

ALSO READ: Keeping TRAC of Old Joe with Nkomazi Fuel & Oil

Pieter Viljoen, spokesman for Nkomazi Fuel & Oil, said they could not resist getting involved with this prank.

Old Joe is such an iconic part of the Lowveld that we knew the community would connect with this prank and it would cheer them up when they realised it is a joke.

Wouter de Witt, also known as Ghost, the artist who regularly paints Old Joe, said he means a lot to him as an artist.

He is part of my claim to fame. Thanks Joe for 13 years of great fun and creativity. Also from me a big thanks to TRAC for being a great guardian and sponser.

SOCIAL MEDIA RESPONSE

Most of Lowvelder’s Facebook users were quick to figure out that the image was photoshopped and that this was indeed a joke.