Ngobeni’s wildest dream is to become the first South African man to go to the moon.

His dream might seem far fetched if you have never met him, but at the age of 17 he already has two inventions under his belt.

The Sevengwana High School learner surprised everyone, including his teachers and family, after he invented a water purification machine in 2018.

He built the machine after taking part in a school competition initiated by the Department of Water and Sanitation.

They had to come up with ideas that will solve the problems in their community or schools.

“I came up with and idea of creating something which could kill bacteria which causes diarrhea,” he said.

Because it was a team competition, he recruited two of his classmates.

Together they advanced to the national challenge where they received 3rd position overall.

In 2019 he entered the Eskom Expo for Young Scientist competition.

He came up with an idea to combat global warming called ‘automated anti-pollutant machine’.

The invention takes carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and produces baking soda from the carbon dioxide using the electrolysis method.

He was later selected as one of 600 young scientists from 35 regions around South Africa to showcase their innovative science and engineering projects at the Eskom Expo International Science Fair (ISF) in September last year in Boksburg.

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He was one of the gold medal winners and there is a good chance that he will be going to international events where he will be showcasing his work.

He is currently working on ideas to improve his inventions and is assisted by Eskom and his school.

He sometimes uses his own savings to buy materials.

“All the money I make goes to my projects as it is expensive to continually upgrade the machine,” he added.

His dream is to either study civil engineering or astronomy in America or Russia to follow his dream of going to the moon one day.

Ngobeni says his family always thought he would become a medical doctor, but he realised that he cannot be one as he is scared of blood.

After school and during weekends he teaches learners from different schools in his villages maths, physical science and geography for free.

” I’m giving back to my community, I don’t need to be paid for doing what I love,” Ngobeni added.

He is also a hip hop artist with the stage name of Sadisti Zombie.

For more information and donations for his project contact, Gladwin Ngobeni on 071 311 7533.