No cycling in KwaZulu-Natal

[Ganymede]

I've just been rather briefly to South Africa, Durban and points south of there along the coast - I thought I'd see at least a bit of bicycling going on but I think in 6 days I saw about 5 POBs. It's hilly inland and with quite a few potholes but the dirt roads beyond that are pretty good - and the roads on the coast are excellent. The poorer people seem to just walk, which, bizarrely, you are allowed to do along the motorways.

The level of road accidents there is, of course, pretty horrendous, but I still thought I'd see more bikes. Hmmm.

 

[Globalti]

Every time I go to Durban my agent and a customer there invite me to go mountain biking but TBH it doesn't look that exciting - they either ride along the seafront or stooge around the sugar plantations and surrounding hills, which looks boring and, they tell me, there are lots of big snakes. Road riding is popular at weekends but in Johannesburg for example most people go out at dawn on Saturday and Sunday so as to avoid the minibus taxis, which are extremely dangerous. You'll need to be up at 5:30 to see them because by 10:00 they are either enjoying a lengthy breakfast at an out-of-town restaurant prior to driving back or they are already home and in the shower.

When I write "they" I mean the 99% white cyclists, most black people being too hard up to contemplate spending several months of income on a bicycle.

 

[Ganymede]

Yes, I did read there were sports cyclists in Durban, but didn't spend any time there at the weekend. Tragically one young lad who'd won local medals was killed on the road just before I was there.

I did think that the black community might have cycled more as the poorer classes do in eg India - obviously for the very poorest it wouldn't be possible, especially as they tend to live down the sides of hills away from the main roads (I was visiting an HIV/poverty charity so saw a lot of very difficult circumstances). But there were plenty of roads which I would have cycled, and there is a burgeoning black middle class/lower middle class, not just the very very poor - and all the 5 cyclists I saw were black (2 of them in helmets!).

It was a fascinating trip for me, anyway - and further out away from the plantations there is some very beautiful country.

 

[HLaB]

A bit OT, I went on a cycle holiday back in 2009 and on it was a previous World Senior MTB champion (on a tandem with his wife) and he was from SA.

 

[Ganymede]

A bit OT, I went on a cycle holiday back in 2009 and on it was a previous World Senior MTB champion (on a tandem with his wife) and he was from SA.

I think on reflection that the lack of black cyclists in SA is really a result of apartheid, not geography, ie the urban areas were effectively white ghettos for decades, so an SA city was never going to be like an Indian city with urban cyclists using their bikes for cargo or rickshaws or carrying the entire family or just commuting, which is what you see in Delhi - or presumably in African cities unaffected by apartheid. I should probably be going "duh!" at this stage... No black families living in the cities, no black-run small businesses... black workers bussed in... no cycle-shaped hole in anyone's life.

 

[amaferanga]

If you head north to Zambia, DRC, Uganda, Rwanda, etc. it's exactly as you were expecting with cyclists everywhere. SA and Namibia are different (I think you guessed right for one of the reasons). In Kigali in Rwanda they have bicycle taxis - old single speed bikes with a huge cushion on a sturdy pannier rack for passengers. It's not a quick way to get about since its very hilly, but interesting.

 

[Globalti]

In those countries I've only ever visited the capitals of Lusaka, Kinshasa, Kampala and Kigali and I'll admit I've never been into the country but I hardly saw a single cyclist - firstly it's too dangerous and secondly no self-respecting young African wants to be seen riding a bicycle. Of course you see the odd sporty person bombing along on a knackered old steel race bike but 99% of budget transport is by the ubiquitous motorcycle taxis or "boda-boda" as they are called. ("Okada" in Nigeria)

Out in the country I'm sure it's different and I certainly remember seeing lots of bikes carrying big loads on the country roads of Tanzania, driving between Dar and Tanga. Same in northern Nigeria.

 

[Ganymede]

I hope to go back to KZN next year so maybe I'll see more bikes - the country is changing very quickly. Watching the Mandela biog programme last night (the Dimbleby one) it seems incredible. A colleague out there said to me his young children simply don't believe it when he tells them that he was not allowed to have black friends, and that you never saw black people in the park/pool/shops. Extraordinary place.

With the work I was doing out in the villages, it is plain that there is very little in the way of small businesses even there - again a result of apartheid. The younger generation are full of vim and ambition and I hope that will mean progress out in the rural areas too.

 

[amaferanga]

In those countries I've only ever visited the capitals of Lusaka, Kinshasa, Kampala and Kigali and I'll admit I've never been into the country but I hardly saw a single cyclist - firstly it's too dangerous and secondly no self-respecting young African wants to be seen riding a bicycle. Of course you see the odd sporty person bombing along on a knackered old steel race bike but 99% of budget transport is by the ubiquitous motorcycle taxis or "boda-boda" as they are called. ("Okada" in Nigeria)

Out in the country I'm sure it's different and I certainly remember seeing lots of bikes carrying big loads on the country roads of Tanzania, driving between Dar and Tanga. Same in northern Nigeria.

I saw loads of cyclists in Kigali, Kampala, Lusaka (and in numerous other smaller towns and cities in east/southern Africa) . Maybe not right in the city centre, but you don't need to head out of the city to see them.

 

[Globalti]

I hope to go back to KZN next year so maybe I'll see more bikes - the country is changing very quickly. Watching the Mandela biog programme last night (the Dimbleby one) it seems incredible. A colleague out there said to me his young children simply don't believe it when he tells them that he was not allowed to have black friends, and that you never saw black people in the park/pool/shops. Extraordinary place.

With the work I was doing out in the villages, it is plain that there is very little in the way of small businesses even there - again a result of apartheid. The younger generation are full of vim and ambition and I hope that will mean progress out in the rural areas too.

I share your optimism; in Nigeria where people are extraordinarily resourceful we have hundreds of small entrepreneurial customers who I believe are spearheading, despite the most unfavourable circumstances, the 30% growth that Euromonitor is predicting in our sector. Their political leaders are still looting the country but I'm also optimistic that young Africans who have been educated in the UK and the USA are coming back to inherit their parents' businesses and are determined not to go down the same pathway of graft and corruption. This may be a naive idea because in Nigeria you can't get much done wthout paying dash to numerous officials and agents. I hope the same grassroots growth will happen in other African countries; that's certainly what is being predicted.

 

[Ganymede]

I think you're optimism is great Globalti. Possibly also naive as you suggest, but we've got to start somewhere! I have been engaged in discussions with the small charity that I'm working with out there to create the future strategically through training and giving goals to the young black workers and volunteers. If they can see social engagement and service as a career, as a path of leadership, they can make an extraordinary difference and be role models. I hope Mandela's death and all the attention on his own optimism for the country will give them even more focus.

 

[Cycleops]

Unfortunately graft is endemic throughout Africa and will take a long time to eradicate if ever. Greed and corruption go from the bottom to the very top of government so unless there a will there will be no way. Mandela was a one off the like of whom we will never see again, a truly selfless African and human being. Sad.