Like thousands of South African children, Nkosingiphile Vilakazi rises before dawn to begin the long walk to school.

From his home, a rudimentary shack high in the rolling hills of KwaZulu-Natal, the 11-year-old walks three miles to the village school of Nondweni. By the time he returns home, night is beginning to fall again.

“I love school but it is a long way to walk,” he said. “Sometimes I am very tired.” He is sad that he can only help his father to look after the cows on days when there is no school, but his parents are determined that he should get an education. “They want me to succeed,” he said.

Jeff Radebe, the South African Minister of Transport, pledged this week to help children like Nkosingiphile by handing out more than one million bicycles between now and 2015. For children in dirt-poor rural areas of Africa, such an offer is beyond their wildest dreams.

Mr Radebe, one of the Government’s more colourful ministers, told an international conference that he was trying to promote nonmotorised transport (NMT).

He said the Shova Kalula (Pedal Easy) project would include the construction of dedicated cycle paths, bicycle safety education and the promotion and provision of bicycles, in partnership with the private sector and civil society.

Kimberley Chifadza, a 15-year-old from Victoria Girls High School in Grahamstown, welcomed the initiative. “Children from rural areas have real problems getting to school. Sometimes, they are late — bicycles would really help them,” she said.

NMT — basically bicycles and carts pulled by horses and donkeys — is seen as one of the most effective development tools in Africa. One of the World Bank’s most successful projects involved giving villagers free bicycles in Uganda.

“People used them for everything — setting up bicycle repair stores, bicycle taxis and ferrying agricultural goods to neighbouring villages where prices were higher or shortages reported,” said Keith Boyfield, an economist and leading advocate of market-based policies to promote development. “A huge success for very little outlay.”

Critics of the scheme said that unless action was taken to address the country’s crime rate children risked having the bicycles stolen. Impoverished parents were likely to sell the bicycles to buy food and clothes.

But Sanisiwe Baart, another 15-year-old pupil at Victoria High School, said: “Even if some are stolen, it is not a bad idea. If they sell them because they need food and clothes, then so what, as long as they get a good price.

Mr Radebe said the initiative would help to make cycling popular as a mode of transport in run-up to the 2010 football World Cup. “Global experiences in previous World Cup tournaments indicate clearly that NMT plays a key role,” he said. However, a significant barrier was the high risk of crashes on roads, he said, pointing out that a Human Science Research Council had found that 43 cyclists were killed in road accidents in Pretoria in 2005.

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