Unemployed man a sensation in his village with pedal car built from scrap
Unemployed carpenter Simon Skhosana is driving along with his two-year-old son Siyabonga — in a pedal car he built from scrap material and bicycles.
</p><p>
The car‚ one of many such marvels he has created since losing his job more than a decade ago‚ has turned the 50-year-old father of two into a sensation in his home village of Moloto in the former KwaNdebele homeland‚ north east of Pretoria.
“I can take my children to school when it rains or when it is extremely cold. There was a time when my boy had to go to KwaMhlanga hospital (about 10 kilometres away) for check-up but I did not have money for transport. So I put him and my wife on the back seat and off we went‚” he said‚ proudly.
Skhosana uses two chains to pedal the car‚ which has 11 gears‚ a foot brake‚ steering wheel made out of a bicycle wheel‚ side and rear view mirrors and a manually operated windshield wiper.
He used locks to secure the doors and always locks his son in whenever they go on an outing together because “he is a busy bee and would open the doors when we are on the move”.
When he has luggage or something bigger to haul‚ like a bag or two of cement‚ he hooks up a homemade trailer and hits the road.
Though he is the pride of his unemployed 30-year-old wife Matholwane and the community‚ not everybody is happy with the pedal car.
“Traffic cops give me hard time though I drive on the yellow line. They would stop me and demand that I take ‘this thing’ off the road but I would reason with them that then they must take all bicycles off the road because it is just a bicycle. Some joke around‚ saying I must have a driver’s licence‚” he said.
He is still adding some finishing touches to the car‚ which he plans to paint and name.
It all started when the softly-spoken father lost his job as a welder and carpenter in 2008.
Instead of wallowing in self-pity‚ Skhosana started fixing bicycles and building wire toy cars which he sells along Moloto Road. He also does welding and carpentry jobs for the neighbouring community in order to survive.
Not one to pass discarded scrap material‚ he started designing a pedal car out of discarded bicycle frames and other scrap material and wood panels.
“This is my third car. The first one was a bakkie and I used it to carry my tools when I got a carpentry or welding odd job but I was not happy with it. I struggled to get proper material and most of the body was built out of wood‚” he said.
Skhosana said he could build pedal cars and sell them if he had a proper workshop and access to materials.
Last year he built a two-seater baby stroller which he modelled into a car and sold for R350.