Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola is set to host a Leeuwkop mountain biking challenge in an effort to secure “safer transport” for pupils living far from schools.
This year’s annual event comes after a recent incident where learners were stashed in a van used as scholar transport and died in a head-on-collision when a speeding truck overtook and collided with them in KwaZulu-Natal.
Lamola said the sad reality was that hundreds of learners in rural communities travel long distances to get to school, as they cannot afford transport services.
“I think cycling is a relatable sport and every child at some point is fascinated by a bicycle. In most communities, particularly black ones, bicycles are a cheap mode of transport. Ideally, we would like to improve our scholar transport capacity,” he said.
“It is not ideal that children would have to cycle extremely long distances to school, but where the distances are within reasonable distance, we should encourage children to cycle to schools.”
The mountain biking challenge aims to secure at least 200 bikes that will be donated ito needy children in Limpopo. The children have been identified by a non-government organisation.
In previous years, 100 bicycles were donated to Mchaka High School in Mpumalanga and 135 bikes to the Nelson Mandela Capture Site in KwaZulu-Natal.
Lamola told Sunday World that being a passionate cycler himself, he thought he could use the “simple sport” to help donate the bicycles. The cycling event aims to rotate donations across all provinces every year.
“As you [know] my schedule gets busy and my time does get limited, so I don’t cycle as much as I would like. If I am lucky, its twice a week. So, introducing cycling as a sport or recreational activity, particularly to black communities, adds a new perspective about the utility of bicycle.
“Cycling itself is a recreational activity and is a great sport, in that it pushes one’s endurance levels and really draws one’s capacity,” said Lamola.
The event will take place at Leeuwkop Correctional Services in Rietfontein on November 5.
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