If the annual Eskom Expo for Young Scientists is something to go by, Vhembe District will soon have many new inventions that will see life changing for the better for many people.

This was evinced through exciting projects that were on display during the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in Vhembe, which took place in the Thohoyandou Town Hall on Friday.

More than 50 schools from Vhembe participated. An exciting and promising project is a solar oven, an invention by two Thohoyandou Technical High School learners, Ndivhuho Matsile (15) and Nduvho Makhuvha (16). The oven of the "future", which uses a solar panel, has two hotplates that could be used for cooking and an oven that could braai meat.

"Saving energy is the talk of the town, but there are rural communities where the energy that is being talked about is nonexistent. They cannot access electricity. They are also not allowed to cut wood in the bushes and they have no other alternative. Our solar oven is the way to go," said Ndivhuho Matsile, one of the pupils.

"We have high hopes for this project and if we could get support, this project would better the lives of a lot of poor people in the country," said Nduvho Makhuvha.

Mr Tshiphiri Luvhimbi, the regional science fair director in Vhembe, said the expo had been at the forefront of unearthing the country’s most innovative and talented science minds for the past thirty years. "We are very proud to have such innovative minds coming from this part of the country, and we are also excited to see an increase in the interest by learners," he said.

Competition chief judge Dr Eric Maluta was impressed. "There is an overall improvement in the competition. This year's standard was very high and we had many new and innovative inventions. This shows that we have a potential to produce many new scientists here," he said.

The winners went home with medals and certificates.

The best projects will get an opportunity to compete nationally, where prizes like bursaries, scholarships, laptops and cash prizes are up for grabs.