In July, Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) distributed 1000 Qhubeka bicycles over three events in Bergville.
These bicycles will help schoolchildren to get to and from school (and anywhere else they need to go) more easily, and assist community policing forums with their safety patrols.
“At Volkswagen, we believe that people are at the heart of everything we do. And as the maker of people’s cars, we are passionate about South Africans. That’s why we are committed to making a sustainable difference by investing in our communities. With education being the foundation for the future, children’s learning should not be hindered by their lack of mobility,” said Andile Dlamini, head of communications at Volkswagen South Africa.
“The ‘Blue Bikes’ programme has been run by Volkswagen, in partnership with Qhubeka, since 2015. To date, 3700 bicycles have been distributed to schoolchildren in rural regions and informal settlements to make their commute to school safer and faster, allowing them more time to focus on school work.”
Bergville is part of a Qhubeka SHIFT programme. Qhubeka executive director Tsatsi Phaweni says that SHIFT is a Qhubeka bicycle project that aims to distribute 5000 bicycles into a specific geographic area for five years, with the aim of helping to SHIFT the entire community forward.
“This month has been the first time we’ve expanded our bicycle distributions with VWSA beyond our scholar mobility programmes in Bergville to include bicycles for Community Policing Forums (CPFs),” she added.
“This forms part of our work-to-earn programme in the region for adults, youth and those ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEETs). Bicycles assist with more visible and effective security patrols, boosting safety for everyone.
“They play a valuable supporting role in making the community safer for the schoolchildren in our programmes too. It’s exciting to see the first 100 bicycles distributed to CPF volunteers.”
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