Soweto learners receive bicycles from Deloitte

Deloitte is a sponsor of Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka, Africa's first World Tour cycling team, and is thus supporting the team's #BicyclesChangeLives campaign. #BicyclesChangeLives seeks to raise funds for 5,000 bicycles for Qhubeka programme recipients during 2016. The 2015 campaign raised funds for 5,020 bicycles, which were distributed to school children in South Africa.

This year's #BicyclesChangeLives campaign builds on the momentum from 2015, and will expand its impact by providing 5,000 additional bicycles to adults and school children across South Africa, to improve people's mobility and thereby access to education, healthcare and economic opportunity.

High performance

"We are very happy to be a part of this amazing campaign that is doing such important work," says Thiru Pillay, the leader of Deloitte Consulting. "We believe that our role is to enable high performance, and our contribution to #BicyclesChangeLives will help to empower these learners, who represent the future of South Africa."

City of Joburg has identified Orlando as an area in which to distribute bicycles after having constructed a dedicated cycle lane in the area. The schools in Orlando - Orlando Secondary, Noordgesig Secondary and Bona High School - were selected by the regional councillors of the City of Joburg.

Over the last few months, City of Joburg has been working closely with officials from the Department of Transport, school principals and school governing bodies, South African Police, Community Police Forum and NGOs to set up a sustainable bicycle distribution management programme.

Learners are required to meet certain qualifying criteria to be able to receive a Qhubeka Buffalo Bicycle and recipients are chosen according to their need (such as their families' financial situation or the distance they live from the school they attend).

Bike safety

Learners selected for the programme will be supported with bike safety and maintenance training, provided by Regatommogo Sports Development and Life Skills, a cycling organisation that aims to address cycling challenges within Soweto communities.

"We're thrilled to be distributing the first 25 bicycles funded by Deloitte today," says Qhubeka founder, Anthony Fitzhenry. "This marks the start of an important partnership for us and we at Qhubeka are proud to have Deloitte onboard as a partner in seeking to mobilise more people with bicycles. We look forward to continuing the #BicyclesChangeLives campaign with Deloitte, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka and our other partners."

Qhubeka is World Bicycle Relief's programme in South Africa. World Bicycle Relief is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing education, health and economic opportunities by providing simple, sustainable transportation. Since Qhubeka's founding in 2005, it has delivered more than 60,000 specially designed, locally assembled bicycles to people across South Africa.