Professor Doyoyo gets a fitting send-off during provincial funeral

The internationally renowned engineer, inventor, and well-travelled professor Mulalo Reuben Doyoyo was laid to rest in a provincial state funeral at the Vondwe Cemetery on Sunday morning (17^th). Doyoyo passed away at his house at Kyalami Estate in Johannesburg last week.

Speaking on behalf of the provincial government during the funeral, Limpopo’s MEC for Health, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, said Professor Doyoyo had been a beacon of hope and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. “Through his brilliance and determination, he shattered barriers, turning the challenges of poverty and Apartheid into stepping stones that propelled him towards greatness,” she said.

She added that Professor Doyoyo’s academic journey, marked by meritorious scholarships and distinguished by ground-breaking research, had led him from the University of Cape Town to the hallowed halls of Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Yet, it was his return to the soil of Africa, to the heart of Limpopo, that defined his true legacy,” she said.

She told mourners in attendance and the thousands of those who were watching the funeral on social-media platforms, that Professor Doyoyo had not just been an inventor; he had been a visionary who had seen beyond the immediate to the potential of what could be.

“His invention of LICEM, a revolutionary, eco-friendly building material, is a testament to his commitment to sustainability and innovation. This invention, born in a backroom laboratory in Midrand, Johannesburg, symbolises the spirit of African ingenuity and resilience,” she said.

The traditional leader of Vondwe village, Vhamusanda Vho Gumani, said Professor Doyoyo had been a shining light to her village, an inspiration to the country, and an international icon produced in Africa.

She said that Prof Doyoyo had been about to start a solar project in the village that would ensure that, during load-shedding, the whole village would have electricity for 12 hours non-stop.

“Together with some sponsors from overseas, he was also on the verge of building the first engineering university in this country. His innovative skills and dedication to improve the living standards of human beings in the world will be missed throughout the world,” she said.

News in brief - Date: 23 March 2024

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.

Email: [email protected]