Tony Carnie
DURBAN: With a long road still ahead of them, a small group of “African climate-change cyclists” has arrived in South Africa – the second of eight countries in their 6 000km journey from Maputo to Nairobi.
Over the next two months, members of the cycling caravan will also have to pedal through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania to reach the final destination in the Kenyan capital.
Along the way, they hope hundreds of cyclists from several African nations will join their Climate Justice cycling caravan and also attempt to collect a million signatures calling on world leaders to take more determined political action to avert dangerous levels of human-induced climate change.
Joining the core group of six local cyclists is 74-year-old Victor Coutries of Soweto, who will pedal from the Mpumalanga Lowveld to the Botswana border to raise public awareness ahead of the annual UN climate conference in Paris this December.
Coutries, also known as Tata Victor, is no stranger to cycling long distances.
Four years ago, he joined 16 other cyclists who rode from Musina, in Limpopo, to Durban in 17 days as part of a similar campaign just before the COP17 2011 climate conference in Durban.
“The moment one cycles, people start asking, ‘what is going on?’ Then you can tell people how climate change will change Africa,” said Coutries.
“I cycle everywhere. I don’t like to use a car – and that is another important part of our campaign: we must rely on ourselves and stop using cars all the time.”
The cycling caravan has been organised by the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environmental Initiative and other faith-based groups across the continent.
The journey started in Maputo on August 31. The caravan is due in Pretoria later today to attend a climate change concert.