Innovator Sandile Mtshiki serves up a Covid-19 solution on a table

Sandile Mtshiki is an innovator and an inventor at heart.

Rewind to 21 years ago, when Mtshiki owned a company called Traditional Games, through which he manufactured indigenous African board games, such as Diketo and Morabaraba.

These brought him local and international recognition at innovation summits and they sold successfully at curio shops.

He also had partnerships with the departments of education, and arts and culture.

In 2002, his work in African indigenous games was even referenced as part of an English module workbook exercise for Project Literacy: Adult Education and Training programme.

In 2017, he made an impassioned presentation to Parliament during the public hearings of the Protection, Promotion, Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Systems Bill.

He said cellphone technology could be used to preserve indigenous games.

Now, at the age of 65, his days of innovation and invention are far from over.

In fact, the outbreak of the highly infectious respiratory illness, the Covid-19 coronavirus, has presented a new opportunity.

As government looks at gradually easing the national lockdown restrictions, social distancing is still one of strategies that is likely to remain in place for several months to help curtail infections.

Social distancing is particularly difficult to maintain especially at mass gatherings such as funerals, weddings and even in restaurants.

Kagiso-based Mtshiki believes his Phola Auto Table could help navigate the “new normal” to which South Africans will have to adjust when practising social distancing post-lockdown.

He got the idea for the Phola Auto Table - a versatile, portable, and foldable vehicle-connected table – in 2016.

But it was the coronavirus, and especially the lockdown, that provided the impetus to make the table available.

He said his invention was particularly relevant in the lockdown.

The adjustable table hooked on to the side of a vehicle. It was versatile and portable, and could be used for camping, picnics, weddings, funerals and even music festivals.

He told City Press about how he got the idea to make the table.

“I used to notice that people would complain at weddings or funerals because they had no table to sit at while eating.

“I had the same problem. So I bought myself a portable table for when I went to these events.

“But I did not want the table to be standing next to my car lest it caused a scratch on the vehicle,” he said.

“One day, a friend came to visit and there was a wedding in our neighbourhood that we were attending. As I was leaning on the window frame of my car, I noticed I was anchoring and supporting myself.

“Then I thought, if I could support myself in that way, I could do so with other things. And that’s when the idea of the portable table came to me.”

Since 2016, Mtshiki had been knocking on many doors – from university departments to start-up company support programmes – to turn his idea into a reality.

In 2017, he collaborated with the Tshwane University of Technology’s office of technology transfer to apply to the Technology Innovation Agency for funding to create a prototype for his Phola Auto Table. This was approved and a prototype was made, however, the partnership with the university did not last.

In 2018, he worked with 22 on Sloane, a start-up campus in Bryanston, Johannesburg, to try to scale up his prototype.

He was one of the 25 recipients of a R50 000 grant from Fortress REIT, a property development investment company.

With that money, Mtshiki applied for a provisional patent for his prototype.

His journey in moving his prototype into a scalable and functional product was dealt a curveball when the lockdown was imposed.

But that didn’t stop him for long. He said he was focusing on making it a market-ready product that would be relevant and in line with social distancing measures.

“For instance, restaurants or even fast-food outlets will have to change their way of offering their services post-lockdown. Customers might be afraid to enter their establishments in numbers. Many might take to ordering takeaways and I think the Phola Auto Table could be useful for outlets that deliver food – especially using e-hailing cab services like UberEats.

“Businesses and even individuals could use the auto table to serve or be served food without actually having to physically touch another person. It would also help to maintain a distance between the customer and the restaurant’s sales staff,” Mtshiki said.

“The table has about 14 features, including an umbrella holder and a waste-holder – but I’m still fine-tuning them.

“What I really need is an investor to help me bring my table to life.”

Vuyo Mkize Health journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 vuyo.mkize@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

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