Well-known inventor, Prof Mulalo Doyoyo, dies

One of South Africa's most educated sons, who was an engineer, an inventor, and a professor, Mulalo Reuben Doyoyo, passed away at his house in Kyalami Estates, Johannesburg, last week.

His elder brother, Mr Tshitokisi Bitches Doyoyo, said earlier this week that the death had come as an unexpected shock to the family. He said that another brother, Mr Albert Doyoyo, had tried to phone Mulalo last Wednesday, but could not get hold of him. They then started contacting other family members to check up on him.

“After all of us failed to locate him telephonically, Albert decided to go and check on him at his house with his other sister, Tshifanyiso Doyoyo, and that was when they discovered that he was no more,” he said.

Born and bred in Vondwe village, Mulalo started his education at Vondwe Lower Primary School in 1977 and then moved on to Tshidimbini Higher Primary School in 1981. He joined Tshidimbini Secondary School in 1984, where he studied until 1985. In 1986, he registered at Mbilwi Secondary School. He was later elected as the head boy of the school, matriculating in 1988.

While studying at the University of the Western Cape, he became a publication officer of the Student Engineering Council, a student representative of the South African Institute of Aerospace Engineers, and a founder of the Student Aerospace Society in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.

He completed a master’s degree in solid mechanics and applied mathematics in 1995 and 1996, respectively. In 1999, he accepted a postdoctoral research position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to enhance his studies in applied mechanics.

He also worked as a lecturer at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), where he created the Ultralight Systems Laboratory dedicated to experimental research on ultralight materials.

He will be buried at Vondwe Cemetery on Sunday. The funeral service will be held at home, starting at 06:00.

(Carte Blanche interviewed him last year. The link to the interview is: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27D4Kd41JBU))

Date:14 March 2024

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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