The rural Macgyver who built his own vehicle, yet he can’t get anywhere

⁠Sikhosiphi Ntini with one of his mechanical innovations he has made recently. (Photo:: Chris Makhaye)

9 Mar 2025

Using scrap parts and skill, Sikhosiphi Ntini built a car in 2010. But his story demonstrates how small entrepreneurs and innovators are stuck.

Sikhosiphi Ntini (46) is something of a local celebrity in his native Tafelkop village near KwaNdengezi, about 45km southwest of Durban. This is because when well-to-do locals pull up in vans, sedans and SUVs to functions in the village, Ntini pulls up in an open-air, fuel-saving coupé that he built all on his own.

His vehicle does everything other cars do, such as changing gears, reversing and accelerating. It even has its own makeshift sound system, from which Ntini plays his favourite amapiano, kwaito and R&B music, much to the amusement of many locals.

To them, this homemade car is more than just a vehicle – it is a symbol of human ingenuity, dedication and the unwavering pursuit of a dream despite heavy odds stacked against it.

Ntini realised his childhood dream of building his very own car from scratch, piece by piece, in 2010. Many people, including his own extended family, thought he was mad when he began assembling parts to build his vehicle. “They said it wouldn’t be done. But it took me about four months, working on the project every day, from start to finish,” he said with a chuckle.

Once finished, the car attracted attention wherever Ntini travelled. One of his regular trips was taking his sickly mother to the clinic in Zwelibomvu village, about 4km away, for her regular check-ups and fetching her medications for diabetes and high blood pressure. Sadly, she passed away in 2018.

“When I was taking my mother to the clinic, locals there – from young boys to old people – surrounded my automobile and asked me how I made it. I even attracted the attention of the local traffic police, who admired my car but warned me to take it to the licensing department,” he said.

Early inspiration

Some of the children from the school where Sikhosiphi Ntini (right) is a caretaker. Teachers and learners say he has helped children with science projects and given them technical skills. (Photo: Chris Makhaye)

Ntini’s father was a farmworker who had the special gift of fixing people’s cars. Ntini, who was forced to leave school in Standard 8 because of poverty, said he spent hours tinkering with toy vehicles in his early years. This fascination grew into a desire to design and build his own car.

Before his father died, he passed his mechanical knowledge and skills on to Ntini’s big brother, Dumi, who was regarded as one of the best mechanics of his generation.

“When my brother was working on cars, I helped him here and there. But deep inside, I harboured an ambition of building a moving car of my own instead of just fixing other people’s cars,” he said.

Local villagers said they started seeing Ntini’s innovative spark at a very young age when he used a petrol lawnmower engine to power a bicycle, turning it into a motorcycle that he rode around the village roads.

A mobile vision

When Ntini embarked on the mission to build his own vehicle, luck was on his side when he was able to convince a local elderly man who had a Nissan 1400 van, which was rotting in his yard, to sell him the engine and gearbox.

Ntini also visited scrapyards to source and buy parts, and approached local mechanics for components.

He meticulously welded together the car’s frame, shaping the body with painstaking attention to detail. He had little help from conventional mechanical experts, instead using a combination of salvaged metal and carefully crafted custom pieces.

After salvaging the engine and the gearbox, Ntini painstakingly rebuilt and modified them to suit his needs. He also tackled the electrical wiring, suspension system and transmission, learning new skills along the way through countless hours of research and hands-on experimentation.

Ntini said that although his car does not have a speedometer, he reckons it can easily reach 150km/h.

An inspiration to the young

Ntini works as a caretaker at the local Mbuyazi Primary School, where his role goes beyond his official duties. Here, too, he is an inspiration to the children. He has built a two-seat merry-go-round for the kids, a battery-operated siren and an electrically operated crane while working at the school. One of the school managers, who asked not to be named as he did not have authority to speak to the media, said Ntini is not only a kind and diligent worker, but often also helps with teaching aids.

“We don’t have to go outside the school to get assistance in the technical projects.

“Ntini is there to help with the practical science projects. He has helped pupils to build robots,” he said.

“We just wish that he could be helped to achieve more results, because we fear that his vast talent will die with him instead of helping local kids to attain technical skills that only he possesses.”

Seeking help

The skeleton of the helicopter that Sikhosiphi Ntini is in the process of making. (Photo: Chris Makhaye)

⁠Sikhosiphi Ntini with one of his mechanical innovations he has made recently. (Photo:: Chris Makhaye)

Apart from the vehicle Ntini built in 2010, he has a number of other inventions under his belt, including a robot that is able to pick up light items.

He has started working on his biggest dream yet: a helicopter. However, although he has assembled components for it, it has been years since he worked on the project. “I am seeking two engines that will propel this aircraft from the front and back,” he explained.

Ntini feels that growing up and living in a rural area has been a great disadvantage to him, because he has always displayed unheard-of innovation throughout his life, but opportunities have never come his way.

Read more: How do you grow an entrepreneur? You equip them – and make entrepreneurship sexy

“I feel that if I was from another place, another country, I would have gone far in life,” he said. “I see many opportunities to teach young people from here in Tafelkop how to build go-karts on weekends when they are not in school, but there are no resources or places to do so.

“There is a lot of other robotic and artificial intelligence stuff that we can learn and teach each other with the kids, but there are no opportunities.

“I am appealing to the government, to universities and industry to come and help us to develop our innovations.

“We can do so many things – we can build drones that deliver food and medications to mountainous areas like Tafelkop.”

A lack of support

Professor Glen Sneddon, academic leader of the School of Engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said although he has not yet seen Ntini’s vehicle or any of his other scientific innovations, his experience is that “grassroots innovators” seldom find support for their efforts.

“The fact that the guy is 46 years old and despite his skills and innovation he hasn’t [made] any headway says it all,” Sneddon said. “In South Africa, these grassroots innovations seldom get any support because the focus is on products and projects that will sell and generate income.

“Even here at the university, we have come up with several innovations, including making vehicles and other automobiles, but these have not got anywhere because they will have to compete with the Nissans, the Toyotas of this world.

“If we as a university are finding it difficult to [make] any headway, imagine what happens to grassroots innovators like [Ntini],” said Sneddon, who invited Ntini to bring his innovations to the university to be assessed and validated.

These sentiments were shared by several mechanical engineering companies, most of which said that if Ntini cannot raise finance himself to promote his innovations, he should forget about getting assistance or support from the government, the motor industry or the academic sector.

But Larissa Venter, head of government relations at Zero Carbon Charge, a company that pledged to spend R9.4-billion to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations in KwaZulu-Natal at a recent investment conference in the province, said the company welcomed and would support such innovation.

Read more: Chomp ‘n charge — Company plugs gaps in electric vehicle network with off-grid top-up

“News of this level of innovation and determination to learn and execute on building is absolutely incredible. We would certainly like to ... support empowerment by connecting him with like-minded individuals who can show and teach him how to transform an internal combustion engine vehicle into an electric vehicle,” she said. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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Maverick Citizen

Early inspiration

A mobile vision

An inspiration to the young

Seeking help