Last week we reported the handover over of 22 bicycles to Ukhanyo Primary School, where a cycling club is being initiated. The same remarkable group of partners has also made a donation of 15 bicycles the Songezo Jim Cycling Academy, who are based at our Chasmay Road Campus. At Masicorp, we are incredibly proud of our partnership with the academy and to have the young cyclists coming and going and treating Chasmay Road Campus as their “home”! Songezo Jim himself will select 15 cyclists to receive these bicycles for participation in the Cape Argus Cycle Tour – there are already fifteen entries to the tour that have been registered.

Our thanks once again to:

CLAREMONT ROTARY who donated R90 000 for the 15 bicycles, spare parts, clothing and equipment that are being handed over to Songezo Jim and have a remarkable track record of philanthropy across many spheres.

PEDAL POWER who have been promoting SAFE CYCLING for over 40 years and have been the mover and shakers to get cycle paths installed wherever possible.

THE CAPE TOWN CYCLE TOUR who as we all know, organises the world’s largest timed cycle race, raising money for a wide variety of projects. It must be a monumental task of organisation and logistics!

BEN BIKES who way back in 2002 began operating from a container on the Sosebenza site in Masiphumelele – now it is a double storey facility! BEN has handed out over 20 000 bicycles and trained 5000 people in safe cycling and bicycle maintenance. We must also thank those from BEN Masiphumelele who have been beavering away assembling the bikes prior to the handover.

QHUBEKA (a Nguni word meaning “to move forward, to progress”) – this organisation hands out bicycles countrywide for people to access schools, clinics, jobs….and run the projects to encourage people everywhere to CYCLE!   Their programmes include “Learn to earn” for kids and “Work to earn” for adults.

AND TO THE INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED:

Ken Sturgeon and Ian Robertson of Claremont Rotary,

Ian Mills and Sithembiso Gwaza of Qhubeka,

Louis de Waal, Ken Sturgeon,Tim Mosdell and Gordon Laing of BEN,

David Bellairs and Ian Robertson of the Cape Town Cycle Tour and

Robert Vogel of Qhubeka

Songezo Jim and all at Songezo Cycling Academy

Sally Peterson of AWOL Tours, who also have a “home” at Chasmay Road Campus, and through whom Masicorp benefits from with funding every month.