The streets of Joburg were filled with a clash of colours and sounds as two varsity friends performed an annual ritual they’ve faithfully stuck to for the past 10 years by participating in the MTN 702 Walk the Talk yesterday.
Isaac Disebo and Nhlakanipho Zulu were lecture-drunk Wits University students who dared each other to join thousands of walkers passing through their residence one cold July morning in 2009.
For the next nine years, they duly registered and received their official “walkies” numbers.
We might not see each other for months, but come July, Sakie and I hook up and catch up during the Walk the Talk,” said Zulu, who finished the 25km walk with Disebo in just over four hours.
A moment of silence was observed for the “Mabenas of the Soweto Derby” Kaizer Chiefs before the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba, fired the starter’s gun for the slightly delayed 8km to commence.
702 presenter Aki Anastasiou had the crowds waving in the air for the SA Police Service’s Air Wing flypast while his colleague, Kenny Maistry, churned out the beats to get the pulse racing and the body warmed up.
A total of 50 000 walkers, some from as far as Sabie in Mpumalanga and Thohoyandou in Limpopo, didn’t really have to brave the cold as the weather was uncharacteristically warmer and strangers were expectedly friendlier as Anastasiou urged them to grab selfies and declare love to each other. A dozen of super-fit Johannesburg Metro Police Department’s K9 officers flanked by their four-legged partners took part in the 8km walk to calm the nerves of any nervous visitors to Joburg.
Welcoming residents and visitors to the “best city in the world”, Mayor Mashaba urged them to have fun, refrain from littering and celebrate 25 years of the country’s hard-won freedom.
“We never thought this nation-building event could exist 25 years ago. This event brings all South Africans to celebrate unity in a massive way,” said Mayor Mashaba before disclosing that the event had created 1 200 temporary jobs this year.
Bins were lined up along the 25km, 15km, 8km and 5km routes, with messages urging the walkers to leave nothing but their footprints behind and no major injury incidents were reported except for slight aches and strains from inactive muscles.
