MAVERICK CITIZEN: Wheel-life solution: How Covid-19 made Khayelitsha woman rethink what makes a space public

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In a country characterised by myriad gates, security personnel and other barriers, taking ownership of public space might entail both raising awareness of what public space means and thinking about our private spaces differently. Khayelitsha resident Khanya Qongqo takes us on her journey to this conclusion.

Based in Harare, Khayelitsha, Khanya Qongqo helped set up a community kitchen in mid-2020 and received a bicycle as a donation to help with kitchen duties. Since then she has become an advocate for bicycles as a way of travelling and connecting with others in her neighbourhood. Now 26, Khanya learnt to cycle as a child, but never owned a bicycle before last year. She says the best part is that she is “able to get from point A to point B without depending on anyone”.

Khanya Qongqo wants to see more women on bicycles. When she can, she teaches her young neighbours to cycle. When it comes to public spaces and the opportunity and need to improve them, Khanya talks about a park near her home in Harare as well as the local police station. She says both have an environment and a look that is uninviting and hostile. “It would be nice to make the park green, add plants, make it a happy place for kids,” she says.

How do you create an environment that communicates openness while protecting all users of the space? In Khanya’s experience, cycling in Khayelitsha means asserting her right to the road, which is more often than not “owned” by motor vehicle drivers. And so a few signals would not only help her navigate the roads more safely, they would also create a level of awareness that could invite more people to use the space and thus engage in a virtuous cycle, so to speak.

 

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