The Amazwi Villager

Written By Linky Matsie

The sun is shining and wind is blowing dust everywhere. To get to Nkotobona High School you take a long, quiet dirt road with deserted bush on either side. The school is very far for most of the students who live at least 5km away. There are only the sounds of bird’s whistles in the trees surrounding the schoolyard. More than ten bicycles are leaning against the security guard’s house.

“The government gave us 40 bicycles to give to each student who walks 5km everyday to come to school and to go back home,” explained a male teacher at Nkotobona. The students who live far away from school were asked to register, and the first forty to sign up received bicycles. However, he thinks parents want the bicycles for their own use because even though their kids didn’t register, they came to the school demanding that their children should also have the bicycles. “The bicycles were given to those who registered for them,” he said, “yet there are children who registered and don’t come to school with them. Some don’t even know how to ride a bicycle,” he added, which makes him think that not all of the bicycles are used to come to school.

Mokome Selby is one of the students who received a bicycle. “I live far away from school. I had to leave home at 6a.m. everyday while others were still taking a bath so that I could make it in time. I had to take a bath at 5h00, not later than that. Today I wake up normally like other students and leave at 7h00 because it’s like I have my own car,” Mokome explained with a smile on his face. He said that he is very grateful that he received a bicycle because now he can play soccer after school, unlike before when he got home after dark everyday.

Samuel Mashego also received a bicycle. “I was always late. I never got to school on time. When I was on time, I got a lift. I was running everyday in the morning and in the afternoon so that I could be home before it was dark,” he explained. He added that he now enjoys being at school because he is always on time. Even though he had an accident on his new bicycle and hurt his arm, he is not going to leave the bicycle at home, he just learned that he had to be more careful.

At first the government said if a bicycles breaks, the school should fix them. This worried the teachers at Nkotobona. “The government changed its mind,” one teacher explained.” “They have realized that people might misuse the bicycles knowing that is the school’s responsibility if the bicycles are broken.” He went on to explain, “The bicycles are the property of the school. When the student passes grade 12 or decides to leave school, he/she must return the bicycle to school, so that the other students can use it.”

Greenvalley circuit manager Mapaile said that the government gave bicycles to schools with learners who stay 5km away. In his circuit three schools, Nkotobona, Mahashe and Timbavhati, received bicycles. Along the road children on bicycles are now racing to be the first at school.