Cyclist’s death prompts authorities to combat crime

Avid cyclist Dennis Hammar (76) appeared physically fine after he was attacked by a vagrant near Cape Town city centre while riding on Sunday 27 July, and his cellphone was stolen. But, just two days later, he died in hospital after medical staff discovered he had major injuries and needed surgery.

His senseless death has left family, friends, and the public reeling, and calling for a clampdown on crime.

Dennis, a Jewish Cape Town resident and grandfather, was the epitome of the adage “age is just a number”. With forty-one consecutive Cape Town Cycle Tours under his belt, he was fit, healthy, and living life to the fullest, regularly cycling hundreds of kilometres across the Mother City’s magnificent terrain.

Dennis met his wife, Sharon, in their later years after they were both widowed, and they lived a busy, active life, enjoying all that Cape Town had to offer. Now, Sharon says that her husband was let down by “a city and a country that he loved so much”.

The Pedal Power Association (PPA), a public-benefit organisation committed to promoting cycling and the interests of cyclists, stated that it was “devastated by this incident, which stems from ongoing attacks on cyclists originating from the squatter community living on the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa [PRASA] land.”

Dennis’s death prompted a response from Transnet, which has initiated legal proceedings to evict occupants from informal settlements along routes near Cape Town’s central business district.

The city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, confirmed that the settlement near which Dennis was attacked is situated on land owned by Transnet. He stated that these areas have become “associated with violent crime, and present a daily risk to commuters and cyclists”.

According to Smith, Transnet owns 10 sites that contain 274 informal structures, housing about 424 people. Eviction notices were served by the sheriff on 7 July, but it was “too little, too late” for Dennis. However, court proceedings related to the eviction applications are expected to follow soon.

The city also increased patrols along routes used by cyclists and pedestrians, and Smith encouraged concerned organisations to submit formal representations in support of the city’s safety efforts. He said the removal of the encampments could improve safety significantly in the area.

It was a harrowing week for the Cape cycling community, as another cyclist died in an accident with a bus on Cape Town’s Chapman’s Peak route, a few days after Dennis’s passing.

Sharon says Dennis was a “proud, passionate, and committed Jew and South African” who treated all people equally. Seeing South Africans divided on political lines, especially when it came to the Middle East, broke both of their hearts. “I don’t want Dennis’s death to be in vain,” she says. “I want people to unify and fix this country, so that crime becomes obsolete and people have respect for life.”

She says her husband shouldn’t have cycled alone, and when she saw him after the attack, he apologised for doing so. He had been heading out for a ride to Blouberg, a route he really enjoyed. She says the good Samaritans that helped him after the attack, including members of the Muslim community, epitomised the South Africa she and Dennis believed in.

However, she says the police were slow to come to the hospital to take Dennis’s statement, and she experienced the same incompetence in November 2024, when he was injured in a hit-and-run while cycling. Now, she will continue to advocate for a better police service.

Dennis’s life-long friend, Rob Swiel, says Hammar was a “pioneer” in the cycling community. The pair were among the first cyclists to take part in a unique 200km cycle near Cape Town that began in the 1980s and continues to this day. As younger riders joined the venture, Dennis would support them as an unwavering teammate, refusing to forge ahead if other cyclists were struggling.

Swiel says he was in awe of Dennis taking part in the Cape Town Cycle Tour in March 2025 after being injured just four months earlier, and that he still finished with a time of just more than four hours.

It was Swiel who introduced Dennis to Sharon, and Dennis was thriving as an involved, dynamic husband, father, and grandfather. The impact of his death has been so great, the cycling community gathered in Cape Town and London to do memorial rides in his memory on the day of his funeral. They also placed a small model bike in his memory near to where he was attacked. Sharon says she is grateful to the city for “rallying” to take part in the event, and for committing to combatting crime.

Neil Schaffer, in his 30s, says he always looked up to Dennis as a consistent “father-figure” in the cycling community. He hopes to follow in Dennis’s footsteps, cycling into his golden years and finishing as many Cape Town Cycle Tours as he did.

It was Sharon, a physiotherapist who rehabilitates injuries, who helped Schaffer learn to walk again after his own cycling accident, when a truck drove over him, shattering his pelvis. While Schaffer lives with the aftermath, he looked to Dennis as a role model who overcame hardships and continued to cycle for the love of the sport.

Neil Robinson, the chief executive of the PPA, told local media that his organisation had raised concern about criminal activity along cycling routes for a long time, particularly in isolated areas near PRASA land. He said the issues include broken CCTV cameras; limited patrols; and repeated vandalism.

City officials acknowledged the attack, and said plans were in place to restore damaged surveillance equipment and expand security patrols along key routes. However, the PPA is calling for a systemic, long-term approach to protecting cyclists, including consistent monitoring and safer, more accessible routes.

Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie, the commander of the provincial media centre of the South African Police Service Western Cape, told the SA Jewish Report that an inquest was taking place into Dennis’s attack, and no arrests had been made.

Sharon says she is “honoured, blessed, and grateful” to be Jewish, and thanks the global Jewish community for its outpouring of love and support. She says community was a vital part of the couple’s life, and they recently enjoyed a SA Jewish Report webinar on Artificial Intelligence (AI), where Dennis was one of the first to programme himself to “fly” using AI. Now, she hopes her husband is soaring above, as he did in that experience.

Though she knows that she and Dennis had a lot more living to do together, she’s grateful for the “second chance” they got to experience love and companionship in their later years. She says she will continue to fight for a better South Africa, in memory of Dennis.