From http://www.anc.org.za/caucus/show.php?ID=2633

15 May 2012

Chairperson, Honourable Members, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, we are truly living in exciting times for science and technology in our country. There is an absolute hive of activity, with groundbreaking new initiatives in many areas.

In his budget speech earlier this year, Minister Gordhan identified investment in science and technology as an essential lever to achieve sustained economic growth. In partnership with science councils and institutions of higher learning, the DST has shown how innovation can substantially benefit all the citizens of our country.

The DST`s work is unique in many ways – we apply science and technology to address present challenges, but we also delve deeply into the past, and look far into the future.

Starting with the past, Honourable Members, we must remind ourselves again that South Africa has some of the richest evidence of how plant and animal life evolved and how modern humans originated.

In order to fully exploit this priceless heritage, working closely with our palaeontologists and archeologists we developed a strategy for the palaeosciences, which was approved by Cabinet in February this year. The strategy is directed at building human capital, providing resource support and enabling legislation to collect, curate and research our invaluable palaeoscience treasures, and to increase public engagement on all aspects of this exciting field of scientific endeavour.

Implementation of the strategy has already begun: a new Centre of Excellence in Palaeontology will be established next year, and two new research chairs in the palaeosciences have been awarded. One is a carbon-dating facility at UCT and the other is on the origins of modern humans, hosted by the Institute of Human Evolution at Wits University. Last month, Honourable Members, Minister Pandor unveiled the state-of-the-art palaeosciences microfocus CT scanner, funded by the National Research Foundation. Honourable Members, this scanner, the only one of its kind in Africa, can take non-invasive X-rays and provide high-resolution imaging of fossils, even if they are encased in millions of years of lime and stone deposits. This scanner will undoubtedly help to solve even more mysteries about the origins of humankind, adding to our country`s growing reputation as an innovator in this field.

However, Honourable Members it is the science of astronomy that allows us to explore the much more distant past, going right back to where it all started. Our 64 dish MeerKAT radio telescope, which will be operational in 2016, and even more so the Square Kilometre Array, will tell us more about the origins of the universe, revealing some of its secrets that we don`t yet fully understand. Astronomers from all over the world are already lining up to use these facilities. In fact, many leading researchers have already joined us here in South Africa. The SKA will, after all, be one of the biggest single global science projects the world has ever seen.

Moving to the present, Honourable Members, we are blessed with a country that has rich resources with immense possibilities. But for us to take full advantage of these opportunities we need far more young people to follow science-based careers. The DST continues to employ Science and Maths Olympiads and competitions to identify and nurture talented young people. The DST provided support to more than 13 000 Grade 10 to 12 learners from Dinaledi schools to participate in the 2011 National Science Olympiad.

South African learners continue to excel at international science competitions. At the 2011 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world`s largest high school science research competition, a special award was made to a South African learner, who investigated how playing music could lead to increased productivity in factories.

We are happy to report that South Africa successfully hosted the International Junior Science Olympiad in Durban, with 43 countries participating, in December last year. In September, the South African science centre community hosted the 6th Science Centre World Congress in Cape Town, which attracted delegates from over 50 countries, including no fewer than 17 other African countries. Our science centres, which we have every intention of expanding, help to create an awareness of and an interest in science. Almost all our centres offer career guidance and curriculum support programmes such as teacher workshops. The science centres also provide an opportunity for learners who do not have laboratories, especially at rural schools, to experience the excitement of practical science experiments, while our mobile laboratories travel to schools that are far removed from the science centres.

Honourable Members, the success of our science system is strongly dependent on improved performance at school level. While technology alone will not provide all the answers, one of our challenges is to apply the available knowledge and technologies to support learning and teaching. With this in mind, the DST, working closely with the Department of Basic Education and the Eastern Cape Department of Education, has started an initiative looking at how a range of technologies can be deployed to address education-related challenges in a rural context. The chosen site for this initiative is the Cofimvaba School District in the Eastern Cape, concentrating initially on the 26 schools in the Nciba Circuit. A team from the CSIR has already conducted a comprehensive scoping exercise of these schools. The HSRC will be doing the important monitoring and evaluation work, and will assist in guiding choices of interventions that offer the best solutions to achieve better educational outcomes.

Honourable Members, climate change is probably the biggest single threat facing humankind today, and poor communities in Africa are particularly vulnerable to its effects.

South Africa has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This can be done, but will require a decisive shift away from our current carbon-intensive, resource-based economy to a more resilient low-carbon, knowledge-based economy, which uses clean renewable sources of energy.

Our government`s 20-year Integrated Resource Plan sets the target for renewable energy to make up 42% of all new power generation by 2030. We know that we have an abundance of renewable energy potential in our country. We have some of the best conditions for solar energy in the world, and sufficient wind-energy potential to provide us with most of our energy needs. The DST has established research programmes based at various universities, focusing on solar and wind energy as well as on biofuels, so that we can use locally developed technologies to harness these resources. Two new research chairs have been established for biofuels research.

But, Honourable Members, it is in the area of hydrogen and fuel cell development where some of the most pioneering work is happening, and this is potentially the clean fuel of the future. We can see promising beginnings of a shift towards a future hydrogen economy. A number of car manufacturers have announced plans to start producing hydrogen-operated vehicles. South Africa`s telecommunications industry is already replacing its diesel generators, using hydrogen fuel cells for back-up power.

Most hydrogen fuel cells use catalysts made of platinum group metals. Honourable Members, South Africa has more than 75% of the world`s known platinum group metal reserves. This advantage, together with the very capable researchers at our centres of competence, places us in a strong position to seize the opportunities offered by a future hydrogen economy.

This morning we heard about progress in hydrogen fuel cell development from Dr Olaf Conrad, a director at HySA Catalysis, one of the Hydrogen South Africa centres of competence. HySA Catalysis is co-hosted by UCT and Mintek. Its goal is to provide 25% of the global catalyst demand for the hydrogen and fuel cell market by 2020. This year, they developed a very promising platinum-based catalyst for fuel cells and further tests are being carried out on this catalyst to benchmark it with those that are already commercially available.

Potential hydrogen fuel cell components being developed by the HySA centres of competence can be used for portable power applications to provide quieter and cleaner alternative sources of energy as compared to diesel generators, and a combined heat and power application to supply power and heating for domestic and commercial use.

To ready ourselves for the commercialisation of hydrogen fuel cell products, A South African company called Clean Energy has been established. It will initially market and eventually assemble and manufacture fuel cells, has been established. Secondly, an agreement is being finalised with a Norwegian partner for the commercialisation of a hydrogen storage material, which is a HySA systems patent. HySA has also developed a power management system for portable power applications in collaboration with a South African company called Hot Platinum.

Another critical present-day challenge to which the DST has responded, Honourable Members, is ensuring that our entire population has access to clean drinking water. The lack of safe water has a profound impact on the health of our poor and vulnerable communities. Recognising this, we introduced a pilot project, launched jointly by myself, the Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, as well as the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Affairs, to provide clean drinking water in six remote rural villages in the Eastern Cape, where people were collecting water from polluted rivers and streams. The project comprises the installation of solar-powered water purification units, combined with ceramic water filters provided to households. The initiative was prompted by the realisation that, although considerable progress has been made in water provision to rural communities, some villages are highly unlikely to get piped water in the immediate future owing to their remote location.

Six task teams were trained by the HSRC in hygiene and health promotion, thus ensuring that improved hygiene practices accompany the provision of clean water. A total of 1,775 households in these villages now have access to safe drinking water. Honourable Members, this initiative has once again shown how even relatively simple innovative technologies can make a difference in the lives of our people.

The second phase of this project will be piloted in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and a baseline study has already been completed, revealing different challenges. The experiences in diverse settings will play an invaluable role in shaping decision-making on providing relief to the millions who still require access to clean water.

We are also doing important work to ensure that existing water supplies are clean. We are pleased to report that the CSIR has developed a new freshwater ecosystem atlas, which shows which rivers and wetlands need to be kept in a natural condition. The atlas content summarises the data and on-the-ground knowledge of the freshwater ecological community in South Africa, representing over 1 000 person years of collective experience. It contains 19 priority area maps – one for each water management area in South Africa.

Food security is another area in which our department has been active.

A recent good example of constructive collaboration between the public and the private sector is the framework agreement between the Nestlé Research Centre and the CSIR, announced in March this year. This partnership is directed towards researching our indigenous plant rooibos. This will come not a minute too soon, given the fact that food production has declined in sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades. We are pleased to report that no fewer than seven of the 60 new research chairs will serve the areas of rural development, food security and land reform – bringing the total of such chairs to ten.

Honourable Members, I`m sure you will all agree that there is unprecedented activity in the world of science and technology in our country. And now we are all eagerly awaiting the outcome of the Square Kilometre Array bid. If we secure this bid to host the most powerful radio telescope in the world, we will firmly cement our position as a major player on the world`s science and technology stage.

We would not have been able to make our mark without our dedicated scientists, who continue to work diligently in their respective areas of expertise. Only last month, UCT`s Professor Jill Farrant won a prestigious L`Oréal-UNESCO award in Paris for her groundbreaking research into the development of drought-resistant crops.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal`s Dr Gita Ramjee recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 International Microbicide Conference in Australia. Dr Ramjee has done a great service to South African science though her tireless contribution in the field of Aids prevention.

On a sadder note, I would like to pay tribute to the science journalist Christina Scott who died so tragically in October last year. The world of science is poorer for this loss.

To conclude, Honourable Members, I must say, it continues to be a privilege working under the dynamic and energic leadership of Minister Pandor, and with a committed department under the able leadership of Dr Phil Mjwara. We would also like to express our appreciation for the consistent support we receive from members of all parties in the Portfolio Committee, under the leadership of the Chairperson, the Honourable Ngcobo. We look forward to sharing with you in more detail some of the initiatives that we have merely touched on today.

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