Cyclists saddle up against muggings
“It was a nice Sunday morning for a quick cycle to town and back; little did I realise it would change my life forever,” says Robbie Grant.
Mr Grant, of Bothasig, is one of many cyclists who have been mugged in the Woodstock area.
On Sunday, he was among more than 300 cyclists who rode from Woodbridge Island in Milnerton to the Cape Town Civic Centre to condemn attacks on cyclists across the city.
Mr Grant described how, on the morning of Sunday December 1, he had been trying to catch up with a group of other riders as he had headed along FW De Klerk Boulevard towards the turn-off to Lower Church Street. He knew there was safety in numbers, especially near the Lower Church Street bridge where many cyclists had been mugged, but the others were stronger riders and had disappeared after cresting a hill in front of him.
“I saw someone on the side of the road. I didn’t take much notice of it, until I felt a large bump on my left shoulder. Then before I could do anything, I was on the ground,” he recalled, noting that when you come off a bicycle saddle a metre off the ground while moving at 25km/h, you “come down hard”.
An accomplice of the man who had knocked him down had soon been on him, holding him down, while kicking and beating him, he said.
“The guy who pushed me tried to roll me over to grab what he could.”
He had tried to fight them off, but the more he had struggled, the more they had beaten him.
They had rifled through his cycle jersey pockets, throwing out what they hadn’t wanted as he had lain on the side of the road, watching cars go by, people looking but not helping.
“I was hurt, shouting for help and saying I’ve got nothing. They were very violent; they felt nothing for a person. They had no remorse for what they did. Our lives are nothing to them.”
The muggers had run off after a van had stopped and the driver and his passenger had approached.
“I was asked if I was okay. I was trying to get up from the road. When they asked what they took, I replied I don’t know.”
Sunday’s ride against incidents like this was organised by Roland Postma, the managing director of Young Urbanists South Africa, a non-profit organisation.
Mr Postma said bicycle attacks happened daily across the city. Cyclists were particularly vulnerable on the Woodstock bicycle lane because of “dead space” along the route - lonely and neglected areas with no eyes on the street from businesses facing the lane.
Mayoral committee member for urban mobility Rob Quintas, who took part in the ride, said he was aware of problems with crime on the Woodstock cycle lane since 2021 and they had a lot to do with nearby sections of neglected and unfenced Transnet property that had been occupied by squatters.
“The City has engaged Transnet on many occasions, which got a point now of legal correspondence between the City and Transnet via the office of the mayor, to try and persuade and encourage Transnet in taking responsibility for their property,” he said.
Transnet acknowledged receipt of emailed questions sent on Monday but did not respond by deadline.
