After missing the opportunity to participate in Eskom Expo in 2025, Grade 12 learner Juma Selemani Mahango refused to give up. A year later, he reached the 46th Eskom Expo International Science Fair (ISF), earned a Bronze medal and was provisionally awarded an Eskom Merit Bursary.
Mahango, from Parow High School, represented the Stellenbosch Region in the Western Cape. His provisional Eskom bursary recognises academic performance, innovation and achievement. It is subject to confirmation of his final National Senior Certificate results and to compliance with Eskom’s bursary and admission requirements.
For the aspiring mechatronics engineer, the opportunity could remove a significant financial barrier as he prepares to begin the next chapter of his education.
“This achievement means so much to me. It will take a huge financial weight off my parents, who have sacrificed a lot for my education,” Mahango said. “It means I can study without worrying about debt, and it gives me the chance to keep developing my project into something that can really help the world.”
Born in South Africa to a Congolese family, Mahango describes himself as passionate about engineering and robotics, with a particular interest in building things that can contribute to solving real-world problems.
His ultimate ambition is to become a mechatronics engineer and use his skills to develop solutions to some of those challenges.
Mahango was initially inspired to participate in Eskom Expo after seeing other young scientists from Parow High School perform well in the programme. However, it was a global challenge that ultimately gave him the motivation to develop his own research.
“What drew me most was a problem I couldn’t stop thinking about, water scarcity, an issue that will affect more and more people around the world,” he said. “I wanted to do something about it.”
His route to Eskom Expo was not straightforward. Mahango had hoped to participate in 2025, but changes in physics teachers at his school meant he did not have someone to serve as his Expo coordinator. “I couldn’t take part in 2025. I didn’t give up, and this year I finally made it,” he said.
Making it to the ISF proved particularly meaningful because 2026 was both his first and, as a Grade 12 learner, final year participating in the programme. One highlight was discovering the range of research being undertaken by other young scientists.
“Some of the ideas were incredible, and they changed the way I think about how problems can be solved or approached,” he said.
Mahango also valued the opportunity to meet participants from across South Africa and other countries, particularly because he found himself surrounded by young people who shared his ambition to make a difference.
“Best of all was spending a week with people who think like me and have big visions for the world,” he said. “That’s something I’ve always found hard to find, and I’ll really miss it.”
Then came one of the biggest moments of his journey: being named a provisional Eskom Merit Bursary recipient. “It was exhilarating,” Mahango said. “Just being at the ISF was an honour, but winning an award made me feel like I truly belonged among the best of the best.”
His fascination with STEMI began in an unlikely place: movies. “Seeing what technology could do to help people amazed me, and I wanted to be one of the people who made that happen,” he said.
That fascination was reinforced by a childhood curiosity about how things worked and a desire to build things, which eventually grew into a passion for engineering, robotics, and problem-solving.
Outside STEMI, Mahango enjoys exploring and is fascinated by ocean adventures. “I like to say I would make a great pirate because I am drawn to discovery and the unknown,” he said. He also keeps active through exercise and cycling.
Although Mahango has only one year of Eskom Expo participation behind him, the journey has already taught him valuable lessons that he hopes other first-time participants will carry with them. “There will be late nights, failed tests and money spent, and it will all be worth it in the end,” he said.
His strongest advice is to resist treating a research project as finished simply because it works. “Never stop improving your project. There’s no ceiling to how far it can go,” Mahango said. “I kept refining mine right up until the end because I always saw room to make it better.”
For a young scientist who had to wait a year for his opportunity to participate, persistence ultimately transformed that ambition into a Bronze medal, a place at the ISF and a provisional bursary that could help make his engineering aspirations possible.
“Believe in your idea, keep pushing, and enjoy the journey,” he said.
CreativeBox
