South Africa’s research capacity is too low, according to Juanita Terblanche, shadow minister of Science and Technology for the Democratic Alliance (DA), meaning the country is missing a number of planned targets.
In a speech delivered during yesterday’s debate on the Science and Technology Budget vote in parliament, Terblanche noted a concern raised by the auditor general, featured in the last audit report for the department, that only 54 of 81 planned research targets had been met.
“This represents 33 per cent of [the] total planned targets that were not achieved during the year under review,” she said. “This was due to the fact that indicators and targets were not suitably developed during the strategic planning process and could indicate poor performance on predetermined objectives.”
Terblanche said upon visiting the 1820 observatory in Cape Town, she not only got a “clear idea” of the goings on of the observatory, but also the impact telescopes, more specifically the South African Large Telescope (SALT), had on Sutherland’s small community.
“In an array of mediocre departments paying lip service to the implementation of sometimes very good policy, the Department of Science and Technology does stand out like one one of the shining stars that can be viewed from Sutherland,” said Terblanche.
The impact on the community includes: a tourism boom, schools built, a science centre constructed for the public and residents trained as tour guides.
“This is the impact that science working hand in hand with the community can have and what we should strive for in this field,” added Terblanche. She said further the DA welcomes the developments of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).
“In research and specifically where our researchers are competing for limited funding, it is crucial that proper and detailed planning be done, that specific objectives are being set, that these objectives be measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Failing to achieve the set objectives in one out of every three is simply not good enough.”
Terblanche said the ZAR400 million (US$42.5 million) budgeted for the medium term of human capital development and the ZAR605 million (US$64.3 million) for the modernisation of research infrastructure should be welcomed.
She however quoted concerns raised in scientific publications regarding the National Research Foundation (NRF): “The shift in the funding priorities of the Department and the NRF over the last five years is leaving researchers in specific disciplines, as well as their graduate students, high and dry.”
Another international publication indicated South Africa has a low figure of researchers and places the country in “the bottom group of world research.”
“It is therefore a question of doing the one thing and not neglecting the other. Interaction with tertiary institutions – the bastion of South Research on their funding problems – listening and responding to the voices at the helm of our research facilities, should therefore be an annual occurrence,” concluded Terblanche.
