Ray Smuts
AS South African motorists
battle a never-ending staccato of fuel price hike announcements, spare a thought for the poor - by far the bulk of South Africa's population - who will never be able to afford a motor vehicle.
For them, help is on the way from across the waters in the form of pedal power.
A novel plan has been hatched by Johannesburg-based Afribike to import up to 100 000 second-hand bicycles a year, to be sold cheaply to the poor.
It could provide transport
for nearly one million people within the next five years and is backed by Transport Minister Dullah Omar who has been offered donations of thousands of second-hand bicycles from the United States.
The Department of Trade and Industry has yet to come to the party, however. Omar is reported as saying his trade portfolio colleague Alec Erwin, while open to argument, is not keen on allowing these imports because of the impact on the local industry.
Afribike is registered as a
non-profit making Section 21 company and will also have to comply with the new Non-Profit Organisations Act, says a welfare department spokesman.
The concept boils down
to Afribike forming partnerships with dealers throughout the country, who will be subsidised by the Department of Transport to the tune of R200 for every used bicycle provided.
Two secondhand franchises are already operational in KwaZulu Natal, a third is to
be started soon in Gauteng
and another in the Cape in February. Thirteen franchises costing R40 000 apiece, including ten hours of training, are expected to be in operation in the next year.
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