'Cyclists aren't safe'
2007-03-07 11:33
Cape Town - Two men stabbed and robbed a 23-year-old cyclist on Sunday afternoon as he cycled on the R310 just outside of Stellenbosch, causing his right lung to collapse.
Final-year Stellenbosch student, Emile du Plessis, was cycling the route between Stellenbosch and Muizenberg on Sunday, in preparation for the Iron Man South Africa competition for which he had been training for months.
At about 13:30 he saw two man approaching him, one on the left shoulder where he was cycling and the other on the right side of the road.
"Suddenly I felt the road beneath me," du Plessis told News24. The man on the left side wore a black glove on one hand, and pushed du Plessis off his bike.
"The man on the right came over and jumped on me," he says. "They tried to take whatever they could, and then they stabbed me in the chest with a knife."
Feels emotional
One of the two men wore sunglasses, and du Plessis described them as tall, clean-shaven and well-dressed.
They made off with R40, his MP3 player and a bike tool. "They tried to take my cellphone, but it fell on the road and they didn't take it."
A nearby motorist witnessed the entire incident, but didn't get out his car for fear of being shot, according to du Plessis.
The man rushed du Plessis to the Hottentots Holland Hospital.
"My right lung collapsed so they had to put a drain in," says du Plessis. He was transferred in the evening to the Mediclinic in Stellenbosch. "I was released on Monday after they removed the drain," he continued.
The politics, philosophy and economics student is now forced to withdraw from the Iron Man race after months of training. "I have to discard the idea two weeks before the race when all the preparations are just about finished," he said.
Du Plessis said he was still experiencing chest pains and felt emotional about the incident. "I think it's unacceptable that cyclists can't safely exercise in South Africa," he said.
Police are currently investigating a case of robbery and assault.