Mayor Tau to cycle with community
Parks Tau invites residents to join him on the Freedom Ride.
Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Councillor Mpho Parks Tau challenges all residents to join him in this weekend’s Freedom Ride.
The Mayor, together with a number of other dignitaries and mayors will be attending the C40 Climate Change Conference. He will cycle the Freedom Ride route on Sunday 9 February that will start and finish at the Nelson Mandela Bridge in the Inner City. Over 1 500 people have registered, including about 500 cyclists from Soweto.
The Freedom Ride is a social cycle ride to raise awareness about cycle safety and bicycles as a form of transport and recreation. The City of Johannesburg has teamed up with the Joburg Urban Cyclists Association, Critical Mass Johannesburg and the Bicycling Empowerment Initiative to host the cycle ride.
“I am overjoyed by the response from the cycling community to this initiative, and look forward to cycling the route with so many avid cyclists. As the City of Joburg we are committed to making Joburg a cycling friendly city, and this initiative will help mobilise the support we need to make this happen,” Tau says.
Designed to link the communities of Johannesburg and Soweto, the ride will pass sites of historical significance, including Newclare Cemetery where Walter and Albertina Sisulu were buried, the Bill Jardine Stadium, the Orlando Stadium and the Mandela home on Vilakazi Street in Orlando West.
At the Hector Pietersen Memorial in Soweto, the riders will pause to leave commemorative ribbons with a personal message honouring Nelson Mandela.
All cyclists, from beginners to pros, families, social groups and cycling clubs are encouraged to participate. It is a social ride, not a race, and at points on the route the front riders will stop and wait for everyone to catch up.
The ride will follow some of the designated cycle routes that the City of Johannesburg is developing to enable the safe use
of bicycles as a form of transport. Road closures will be in effect throughout the route.
Participants will gather at 7.30am on Sunday 9 February and after a short opening ceremony, the ride will start at 8am.
Participants are urged to park in Braamfontein and make their way over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge to join the start of the race on the Nelson Mandela Bridge.
The City is asking participants to assist in raising funds to set up a Bicycle Empowerment Centre in Soweto. The Bicycling Empowerment Network distributes bicycles to low income areas, trains recipients of the bikes in safety and maintenance, helps set up SMEs known as Bicycle Empowerment Centres that maintain and service bicycles and encourages cities to implement bicycle planning and infrastructure.
The funds raised during the Freedom Ride will enable the City to set up a Bicycle Empowerment Centre in Orlando, Soweto.
