Morgan Freeman and a group of local celebrities left the Nelson Mandela Foundation for the ‘Bikers ride for Nelson Mandela Day’ initiative this morning.
A group of 21 motor bikers with a support team of about 20 people, departed early this morning from the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton on a five day road trip to Cape Town.
The group of bikers including local celebrities; Paul Mvulane Mnisi previously known as Rudeboy Paul, Jeremy Mansfield who until recently used to anchor Highveld stereo's Rude Awakening, Jack Devnarain a lead actor for Isidingo will arrive in Cape Town on Nelson Mandela's birthday on the 18th of July .
On their way to Cape Town, the group will stop at villages and cities to work in various community development projects which include donating blankets, planting trees, painting walls, assisting in completing fencing and other projects initiated by the biker’s council.
"This year’s Mandela Day, July 18, celebrates the 92nd birthday of Nelson Mandela, and is a call to action for all South Africans to make a difference in the places in which they live and work. Declared ‘Nelson Mandela International Day’ by the United Nations last year, July 18 is one day in the year on which people across the globe band together to serve the communities around them and work toward a better tomorrow." said the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Morgan Freeman, who will be riding in a car and not with the rest of the bikers said that "I'm not here to ride a bike, I'm just here to make sure that my business partner doesn't fall off his." Freeman said that the tour was about Madiba's birthday, he said "Madiba doesn't want a day of celebration, fireworks and such. He asked that we spent 67 minutes on that one day in service of humanity."
Paul Mnisi, riding in a 1200cc Harley Davidson said that this was his first time riding with such a big group. Jack Devnarain also riding a Harley said that it was unfortunate that bike riders have such a bad reputation. He said that bikers are not such rough people and that in actual fact they were charitable and loving people.
