Image: Sino Majangaza
A senior Bhisho official has also raised his hand for Madiba by sourcing funding for and donating 100 bicycles for Mthatha pupils who have to walk more than 3km to school.
The Mzantsi Foundation, pioneered by Bhisho Legislature’s sergeant-at-arms Thembekile Mzantsi, was approached by the organisers of yesterday’s Mandela birthday celebrations.
Mzantsi said he then approached MTN as the foundation’s partner, to help in making the dream of sourcing bicycles for these 100 needy pupils a reality.
He said the idea of buying bicycles made more sense in areas where the provincial department of education’s scholar transport project struggled to reach because of the poor road network.
The bicycles will be distributed to pupils in villages around Mvezo, Nelson Mandela’s birthplace.
Mzantsi said the government was committed to intensifying the scholar transport system but was being hampered by poor rural roads.
The bicycles will be handed over to Mandla Mandela today. He will then identify families which need them in either Mvezo or surrounding villages.
The bicycles come with helmets, spare wheels and tubes. The foundation hopes to return and donate more bicycles to the village and will continue to ask other corporate companies to donate the bicycles.
The main target of the foundation this year is to find funds for 300 bicycles.
l In same spirit of Madiba in East London, four students from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University used the time to organise a sports tournament for the Second Chance Skills Centre, a training facility for intellectually disabled children from disadvantaged East London communities. Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday Hlathikazi Beni said: “We have organised a number of sponsors to come on board and to donate soccer and netball kits for the students.”