NAD MTB Team

Team NAD….another unexpected victim of the Covid-19 pandemic

 

Five years ago Nico Bell and the New Africa Developments CEO (Japie van Niekerk) decided to create Team NAD, with the intention of raising the standard of mountain biking in South Africa by providing some of the country’s most talented riders with an opportunity to race professionally and focus themselves fully on their sport.

 

Since its inception Team NAD has achieved fantastic success at both national and international level (the African Jersey at the 2019 ABSA Cape Epic being a highlight) and is widely regarded as the pre-eminent team on the South African stage racing scene having pretty much won all the premier events at some point. Indeed 2020 was expected to be the team’s most dominant season yet, with all 3 team members (Nico Bell, Matt Beers & Wessel Botha) demonstrating peak levels of performance and everyone well settled having retained the same roster as the previous season.

In March of this year everything changed, when cancellation of the ABSA Cape Epic was followed by a national lockdown which has effectively stopped all sport for the foreseeable future. Having continued to support Team NAD these past months, it is with a great sadness that New Africa Development (NAD) has taken the difficult decision to end its sponsorship of Team NAD with immediate effect in order to ensure that all available funds can be channeled towards meeting the financial burden of Covid-19.

 

In addition to providing tenants of its malls with rental relief to allow them to survive the devastating financial impact of the national lockdown, New Africa Developments is also contributing directly to the safety of its shoppers by providing free sanitizing products and initiatives aimed at enforcing social distancing whilst retaining human dignity.

 

“At this difficult time our company’s primary obligation must be towards its staff and the customers served by our shopping malls” says Japie van Niekerk. The passionate CEO of New Africa Developments goes on to add that “the commitment and dedication of Nico and his team has always been faultless, and the decision to effectively end Team NAD has nothing to do with the team itself but rather the extraordinary circumstance in which we all find ourselves.”

 

The remainder of Team NAD’s budget will be used to fund initiatives which directly benefit the communities in which New Africa Developments operates, and this includes providing the elderly and disabled SASSA recipients at one of its shopping malls (Dwarsloop Mall) with a free loaf of bread to alleviate at least some of the hardship facing the most vulnerable members of society.

 

In so doing Team NAD will essentially be making the ultimate sacrifice, as the end of the team’s sponsorship will directly contribute towards the survival of many individuals and businesses negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. New Africa Developments would like to thank its riders and everyone else involved with Team NAD for 5 fantastic years, and wish you all the very best in continuing to live your cycling dream.