Date: 30/07/2009

Source: Department of Science and Technology

Title: SA: Pandor: Remarks by the Minister of Science and Technology at the launch of the 2009 National Science Week, Kimberley

Programme Director, Director-General of Science and Technology, Dr Phil
Mjwara
Honourable Premier of the Northern Cape, Ms Hazel Jenkins
Northern Cape MEC for Education, Ms Zelda Cjiekilla
Acting Director-General of the Provincial Government, Ms Moira Marais-Martin
Learners, Educators and Parents
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

We're here today to mark the start of National Science Week 2009.

National Science Week is a celebration of the role that science, engineering
and technology play in our lives. It's an opportunity to excite our youth
about science and technology. And it's an opportunity to impress upon them
their responsibility for future scientific and technological advances in
this country.

Today's launch differs from previous National Science Week launches for a
number of reasons.

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy

First, this is the tenth year that our National Science Week is being held.

Second, it's the last launch under the five-year plan that has guided the
focus of the week since 2005. During this period, National Science Week
activities centred on the youth, trying to fire young minds with enthusiasm
for science, engineering and technology.

And, third, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) has declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy,
which is why this launch is taking place in the Northern Cape, a province of
international significance in astronomy.

Since 2004 the Department of Science and Technology has afforded provinces
the opportunity to host the launch of the National Science Week on
rotational basis, and so far it has been held in six provinces.

Usually stakeholders from all the nine provinces choose which province will
host the next launch, and usually there is protracted debate about this.

But it was a totally different matter when the Northern Cape was chosen to
host this launch.

Everyone involved appreciated that the launch of this year's National
Science Week would have to take place in this province.

We should not forget that, with the exception of the Sol Plaatje
Municipality (the part of the province where we are today), South Africa's
Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act of 2007 declares the entire Northern Cape
an astronomy advantage area.

Sutherland is home to some of the most sophisticated astronomy
infrastructure in the world, including the largest single telescope in the
Southern Hemisphere, the Southern African Largest Telescope, or SALT.

It's one of the few places where you can view the southern skies without any
form of obstruction.

We're convinced that this geographic advantage gives South Africa a good
chance to win the bid to host the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. As
some of you know, the SKA will make it easier for scientists to investigate
the so-called ‘dark ages', when the early universe was in a gaseous state,
before stars and galaxies were formed.

The geographic advantage our country has in the Northern Cape provides our
scientists with opportunities to collaborate with their counterparts in
other parts of the world. Our experts in digital signal processing, for
instance, have worked with the University of California and the United
States National Radio Astronomy Laboratory in the development of the
computing architecture for the MeerKAT radio telescope.

A heroRAT can clear 100m2 of landmines in half an hour: a man would take two
days

Learners and teachers, science makes the impossible possible.

How many of you would have thought of a rat as a saviour? And yet a group of
Belgian and Tanzanian researchers discovered the usefulness of the African
Giant Pouched Rat in detecting landmines and pulmonary tuberculosis. These
rats are now called as "HeroRATs".

According to a recent estimate, there are currently about 100 million
landmines buried in 90 countries around the world.

It's hoped that the HeroRATs will be able to save us from these destructive
objects much faster than would otherwise have been the case. A trained rat,
they say, can clear 100 m2 in half an hour, which would take a person
operating a manual de-miner two days to do.

Rats are faster than humans in other areas too. In just seven minutes, one
rat can evaluate 40 samples of human sputum for tuberculosis, which is the
equivalent of two days of microscopy work for a laboratory technician.

Five years of science focus on the youth

The five years in which we dedicated National Science Week to our youth were
meant to encourage young people to aspire to be a part of future scientific
and technological advancements that will help us address the socio-economic
challenges we face. You don't have to wait until you have passed grade 12 to
identify your talent and unleash your potential, and there are plenty of
instruments to help you do this.

The Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, for instance, is a local science fair
that offers learners from as early as grade 5 an opportunity to show others
their own scientific investigations. In 2007, a grade 11 learner, Simone
Abrahams, presented an exhibition on "The future of identification". Not
only did her exhibition win her an award, she provisionally patented the
intellectual and commercial rights for her world-first invention biometric
method for identifying people.

Your school text books equip you with basic knowledge to help you
conceptualise, design and develop projects that expose your scientific and
technological innovative mind.

Look at an individual like Dr Thebe Medupe. I find it encouraging that he
was only 13 when he built his first telescope and made his own map of the
moon. Since that time, his knowledge has grown in leap and bounds, and today
he is one of the most respected astrophysicists in South Africa.

We are ready to make an international call for five Research Chairs in areas
aligned to the SKA.

Although we think we have a very good chance of being chosen to host the SKA
the announcement of the winner will be made in 2011 - we are very aware of
the human resources this venture will require.

The same goes for other science, engineering and technology activities that
South Africa needs if it is to achieve a competitive advantage.

As a result, the DST is continuing to expand its human resource development
initiatives. For instance, the DST has established the National Astrophysics
and Space Science Programme, which supports postgraduate students in the
area of astronomy, equipping them with the skills and knowledge they will
need to work at sophisticated facilities like SALT and the SKA.

As we continue our efforts to build science and technology, we cannot be
pessimistic about winning the bid to host the SKA. We have to make the best
efforts to position South Africa to win.

It's my singular privilege to announce that, beginning this year, an
international call will be made for five Research Chairs in the areas
aligned to the SKA.

The Research Chairs initiative, fully known as the South African Research
Chairs Initiative or shortly SARChI, is a programme of the government of
South Africa aimed at attracting top researchers and scientists from around
the world and from the private sector into our higher education
institutions.

To date, 72 Research Chairs have been awarded to South African higher
education institutions and in a few day's time, I will be making a special
announcement of a new cohort of Research Chairs.

Indigenous technology and African knowledge systems can do much to orientate
our people towards science, engineering, technology and mathematics.

Apart from the clear skies right throughout the year, South Africa is also
endowed with other geographic advantages.

South Africa offers the world the second most biodiverse country. Indigenous
technology and African knowledge systems can do much to orientate our people
towards science, engineering, technology and mathematics.

The potential of indigenous knowledge systems to address Africa's human and
economic development within the national system of innovation is vast. In
essence, Western-style mathematics and science should not be seen to
conflict with the recognition of spiritual, cultural, philosophical and
religious values.

I must emphasise that open dialogue needs to be maintained to facilitate
mutual understanding between these value systems.

When we talk about indigenous knowledge systems we are not talking about
just the traditional arts and crafts that sell so well to tourists. There
are textile technologies, jewellery and brass-work manufacturing
technologies, atmospheric management techniques; and architectural,
medicinal and pharmacological knowledge and technologies to be explored.
Their potential needs to be exploited in the context of democratic
participation for communities, both national and globally.

We will commission an independent evaluation of the first 10 National
Science Weeks

Since the first National Science Week was held in 2000, we've had plenty of
time to gather experience and ideas about how to structure our science,
engineering and technology awareness promotion campaigns better.

We cannot claim to have learnt everything we need to, but an independent
evaluation of the first 10 National Science Weeks, which we intend to
commission in the next financial year, will generate useful lessons.

In the meanwhile, the Department of Science and Technology has already begun
working towards the development of an integrated science, technology,
engineering, mathematics and innovation awareness-raising model for South
Africa. Part of this work will lead to a broadened National Science Week,
targeting a wider cross-section of our population.

In the past few years South Africa has experienced growth awareness
initiatives by various stakeholders in the local science system. The
integrated plan we envisage is intended, among other things, to promote
better coordination and eliminate challenges brought about by the currently
fragmented science, engineering and technology awareness-raising system.

Over the next week, there will be organised activities in all nine
provinces.

Over 70 organisations have received grants from the DST to organise and
conduct National Science Week activities, and some organisations have also
volunteered their services.

The majority of these organisations have been involved in National Science
Week since its inception, and their efforts have contributed to the
recognition our work has received from other countries on the continent.
South Africa is now a regular participant in the annual Lesotho Science and
Technology Week. We have recently been invited to participate in Uganda's
Science Week in September, and our officials are also playing a central role
in the planning of the proposed SADC Science, Engineering and Technology
Week.

In closing, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to extend my sincere
gratitude to my colleague, the Premier of the Northern Cape, and the team
she leads in this province. She and her team have provided support in
various forms for the preparations for this launch, and I believe that the
provincial government assigned some of its senior managers to sit on
committees organising this event.

I now declare National Science Week 2009 officially launched. I urge all
South Africans to find a way to participate in the event, and encourage
those of you whose tight schedules will not permit you to visit sites
hosting National Science Week activities to celebrate the event in some way
wherever you are.

I thank you.