Thousands roar through city

POLOKWANE  – MORE than 4 000 bikers flocked to Polokwane on Saturday for the sixth annual Sapa Yopa rally.

The hosts of this popular event were the members of the Sapa Yopa Motorcycle Club and the city’s residents were treated to an incredible sight when some 4 000 bikers rode from the Polokwane Showgrounds, where they first gathered, to Seshego.

The event started on Thursday at Millionaire club at Polokwane International Airport, followed by a pre-party at Polokwane Chisa Nyama. The main event took place on Saturday at the Polokwane Showgrounds.

The line up for the main event included DJ Sbu, Dr Malinga, Vetkuk vs Mahoota, Cappoccino, DJ Malwela from Metro FM, Groove Candi, DJ Def and many more.

After the main event, the group of bikers rode to Seshego where they treated residents to some skilfull driving shows with stunt drivers who pushed their skills to the limits.

Sapa Yopa president, Sarel Nong, spoke at the event in Seshego and said he started the club with a few friends after they realised that bikers of all colours needed to be brought together under one umbrella in Limpopo.

“The Sapa Yopa Motorcycle Club was born in 2008 and we have only gone from strength to strength since then. We are living our dream of cultural diversity with a membership that includes black people, Indians, coloured people and white people,” Nong said.

He said Sapa Yopa was also one of the founding members of a federation of motorcycle clubs, the Rainbow Mzansi Bikers’ Organisation (Rambo). He said 63 motorcycle clubs were now affiliated with Rambo with a total membership of 5 000 bikers nationally.

Nong said 123 bikers were members of the Sapa Yopa Motorcycle Club. They also had 50 bikers younger than 21 years in the club’s development team and more than 1 000 loyal fans in the Sapa Yopa fan club.

“Sapa Yopa’s rallies are known to be very exciting and full of camraderie. We attract bikers from neighbouring countries like Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique to our rallies. We even had a group from Australia join us this year. We were experiencing problems with accommodation but we have manage to organise about 300 tents for the bikers who were struggling to get accomodation,” he said.

Nong said Sapa Yopa also launched their new charitable arm of the club.

“The good work that we do will be our legacy in Limpopo and will be completed under the banner, Bikers Do Care. This year’s rally marks the beginning of the Sapa Yopa legacy of life changing help for the less fortunate. We bought eight wheelchairs with the funds that we raised during the gala dinner. The wheelchairs will be donated to five charity organisations in the Capricorn district.”

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