Motto #bicycleschangelives Founder Anthony Fitzhenry Website qhubeka.org/2013/ | Formation 2005 Location South Africa | |
Qhubeka is a South African not-for-profit organisation that donates bicycles as part of the World Bicycle Relief's charity programme in South Africa. Qhubeka is currently supported by the Dimension Data UCI World Tour cycling team (formerly MTN-Qhubeka).
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History
The Qhubeka was founded in 2005 by Anthony Fitzhenry. The name Qhubeka means "to move forward" in Nguni, and as of 2014 the charity had delivered over 45,000 bicycles. Qhubeka provides bicycles for children to attend schools, and for adults to attend work, with estimates suggesting a 75% reduction in commuting time and 23% higher attendance at schools for people given a bicycle by the Qhubeka. In order to be given a bicycle, the recipients are first required to take bicycle safety and maintenance training courses. The organisation also donates one bicycle for every 100 trees grown, or for every ton of rubbish collected.
In 2013, the organisation became part of the World Bicycle Relief, and in November 2013, RCS Sport, the organisers of the Giro d'Italia, donated 58 bicycles to Qhubeka. In 2014, Qhubeka encouraged people to ride for 67 minutes and donate R67 on Mandela Day, and the Berg and Bush mountain bike race in KwaZulu-Natal chose Qhubeka as their charity to support. In 2015, the organisation donated 5,020 bicycles, and in June 2016 100 bicycles were donated by Auto Trader.
Professional cycling
In 2011, MTN Group changed the name of their UCI Continental Team from Team MTN to MTN-Qhubeka, in order to promote the organisation. In 2013, Samsung, who sponsored the MTN-Qhubeka team, donated R2 million to the charity. For the 2016 season, the UCI World Tour team was renamed Dimension Data for Qhubeka, to clarify that the team were supporting the Qhubeka charity, rather than receiving sponsorship from them. During the 2016 Tour de France, the Dimension Data team also took part in the Qhubeka 5000 fundraising initiative, which aims to deliver 5,000 bicycles in 2016. The initiative encouraged people to ride between 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to 208 kilometres (129 mi); during the first two weeks of the Tour, the Qhubeka charity received R600,000.