Siyabulela Mafilika is a Hydrogeologist at Umvoto with a BSc Applied Geology and BSc (Hons) Environmental and Water Sciences from the University of the Western Cape, and an MSc Earth Sciences from the University of Stellenbosch. For his MSc studies, he used stable isotopes to understand relative contributions of evaporation and evapotranspiration on groundwater recharge in the Verlorenvlei Catchment, Western Cape. As part of his MSc studies, Siyabulela was selected to take part in a six-month exchange programme in Switzerland (University of Lausanne), where he completed a Gemmology course and analysis for his water samples. As a result of his studies, Siyabulela has developed skills in research, fieldwork (mapping, water, and soil samples collection), and scientific report writing. Siyabulela is a registered Professional Natural Scientist (Earth Science, Environmental Science and Water Resource Science: Hydrological Science Fields of Practice) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP).
Siyabulela has been involved in a variety of projects throughout his career. These include geotechnical investigations for housing developments, culverts, and dams. He has experience in proposal preparation, soil profiling, soil and rock sampling, water quality and water level monitoring, core logging, and drill site supervision. He is skilled in the following software packages: ArcGIS, QGIS, Petrel, AutoCAD, DootPlot/HotPlot/Surfer, AquaChem, Kinovea, and Downhole Explorer.
In his spare time Siyabulela likes to watch football and movies, and cook.
