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The National Research Foundation (NRF) joins the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in expressing dismay at the attacks on foreign nationals residing in South Africa and supports the call for an immediate end to xenophobic violence.

In her statement, Minster of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, said that science, technology and innovation in South Africa had benefited immensely from partnerships with other African nations. The Minister also noted that South Africa would not have won the bid to host the major portion of the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), without the support of its African partners.

Minister Pandor stated that South Africa’s efforts to develop human capital for research and innovation have been considerably enriched by the eminent African scientists who have taken up senior positions in South Africa's universities and national science councils.

"Without the experience and expertise of these esteemed colleagues, who also fulfil a valuable role as mentors and guides to young South Africans, science and technology in our country would be very much the poorer. Let us also not forget that during their exile from South Africa, due to the denial of access to education opportunities by the apartheid regime, many South African scientists benefited from training and education in other African states," said Minister Pandor.

Affirming the words of Minister Pandor, the acting Chief Executive Officer of the NRF, Dr. Beverley Damonse said, “The NRF fully supports the call for the immediate end to xenophobic violence. We also reiterate Minister Pandor’s words that South Africa has benefited from scientific, technological and innovation collaborations and partnerships with other African nations”

“The development of our country and that of our continent does not lie in isolationism and xenophobia, but in the embrace of the other and the recognition that knowledge, creativity and innovation knows no national boundaries. It is only through our collective efforts to advance knowledge that we will be able to find solutions to our country’s, the continent’s and humanity’s most pressing challenges,” concluded Dr. Damonse.


Issued by the National Research Foundation