The Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena, yesterday invited foreign donors to place science and technology human capital development high up on their agenda as an indispensable prerequisite for sustainable development, and support the pressing demands of economic modernisation and growth using the official development assistance (ODA) instruments, among other things, in order to uplift the living conditions of South African citizens.

Mangena was speaking at an ambassadorial executive working lunch held in Pretoria on Friday, which included representatives from Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Canada and the European Commission.

He said that looking at our science system from a distance, as a country we are not doing too badly.

“However, from my vantage point, our existing science and technology capacity is characterised by deep human resource imbalances, and unless sustainable solutions are found to address this fundamental problem, resolving the critical development challenges of the day will become increasingly difficult, not only in our own national context, but also in the region and the continent,” Mangena said.

He added that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has placed the strengthening and development of human resource capacity for science, technology and innovation in South Africa, with a strong bias towards equity and gender balance, on the top of its agenda.

“As minister, I am mindful of the enormous challenges that this presupposes, but I am also convinced that this important objective can be achieved with the support of smart and sustainable partnerships of key role players locally and internationally.”

Mangena said that he considers a process of targeted engagement with all major ODA players as critical for the implementation of the DST's human capital development priorities.

The South African government became a recipient of ODA in 1994, after the country's first democratic elections.

However, lately, some countries have reduced their ODA to South Africa and others have even cancelled some projects due to a “reprioritisation” of their funding streams. A major reason for this is often said to be the insistence by many of the development partners on classifying South Africa as a middle-income country.

“Purely in terms of our gross domestic product, this may appear to be the case; however, I believe this view takes little cognisance of the real development chasm in this country and, as a result, places South Africa unfairly outside the mainstream of the ODA debate,” Mangena said.

“This development chasm manifests itself in a situation where the majority of our population is still struggling to have access to the basic necessities of life. It is in this area where the ODA can still be effectively deployed to augment our resources and efforts to address the manifold challenges posed by our economically skewed society.”

Over the last six months, DST has hosted several key events, including the Inaugural Science and Technology Donor Forum meeting in March this year, and a second donor forum in June.

“These meetings have achieved, in our view, significant successes, especially in terms of cementing the relationship between the DST and the donor community, and have gone a considerable way in identifying potential areas of cooperation to support development and poverty eradication in South Africa,” the Minister concluded.