Two learners of the Welkom Technical High School (THS) took first place in the Bloemfontein Eskom Expo for young scientists.
The expo took place on 9 and 10 May in the Free State capital, and was open to all schools in the province.
Lihle Xaba, deputy chairperson of the representative council of learners (RCL), and Nkosi Kutyunga won a cash prize of R10 000 for their school.
They built a machine that can filter and clean water.
This machine employs three filters and a heating element to kill all germs, ensuring the water that comes out is safe to drink.
Lihle not only has technical and leadership skills, but also cultural skills. He is the captain of the school’s debating team.
Lihle won the overall best speaker award in the debating league that took place at the Hentie Cilliers High School on 11 May, and he also took first place at the national Inkosi Albert Luthuli (Inkal) Oral History competition last year.
Nkosi has competed in three technical competitions, which involved environmental and robotics projects, over the last three years – taking first place in all. His contributions has awarded his school over R70 000 in prize money.
He has been described as a a “real Einstein”. Nkosi draws the 3D layouts of these projects, then creates them. With robots, he builds them and then does the coding to control them remotely.
