M Mangena to host International Innovation and Technology Exhibition, 24
- 27 Sept

28 August 2006

The role of Science in addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
Recognising and harnessing our scientific advances for the benefit of all!

Ladies and Gentlemen
Members of the media
Colleagues and friends

Africa’s premier and science event, the International Science, Innovation
and Technology Exhibition (INSITE) will take place in Gauteng from 24 to 27
September during a very significant anniversary.

September is important because it marks the sixth year since 119 countries
signed up at the United Nations (UN) for the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). South Africa was among those nations and we are proud to have been one
of the founding members of the United Nations.

Now six years later, how far have we come? Are people aware of the deadlines
set by the MDGs? We read quite a lot in the newspapers about whether South
Africa will be ready to host the soccer World Cup in 2010. But are we all aware
that only five years later, in 2015, we have another set of very important
goals waiting to be scored?

I must point out to all football fans that there is a very real possibility
that the Millennium Development Goals are likely to be of far more lasting
importance to our society than anything that happens to the goal-keepers during
the World Cup, even during the final and even if it runs way past extra time
and straight into penalties!

Are we still clear on what the Millennium Goals entail? There are eight
goals and I doubt if many of us in this room can list them all. I am lucky that
I have written them down, so I can.

1. Eradicate extreme poverty; reduce the number of people who still suffer
from hunger and malnutrition by one half.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women by eliminating gender disparities
at all levels of education.
4. Reduce the death rate among children under the age of five by two
thirds.
5. Improve maternal health by reducing, by three quarters, the maternal death
rate.
6. Contain and begin to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS, malaria and other
major diseases.
7. Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe
drinking water.
8. Develop further open trading and financial systems that do not discriminate.
In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new
discoveries, especially information and communications technologies.

So what is the role of science in addressing, and perhaps more importantly,
in achieving, the MDGs? Quite simply, without science and scientists, Africa is
doomed to fail in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and
that means that we fail our people.

In the words of a son of Kenya, Calestous Juma, who is now professor in the
Practice of International Development at Harvard University "Science and
technology is so central to the implementation of the Millennium Development
Goals that it should be considered as the driving force behind the achievement
of the goals."

Professor Juma chaired a task force of 27 members who analysed progress made
towards the achievement of the MDGs last year. The team’s efforts resulted in a
report which was presented to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The report,
entitled: Innovation: Applying Knowledge in Development claims that both
national governments and international organisations must pay greater attention
to science if we are to have a chance of achieving these important goals. More
specifically, the report emphasises that “countries will need to recognise the
benefits from advances in science and technology and develop strategies to
harness the explosion in new knowledge”.

The International Science Innovation and Technology Exhibition (INSITE) is
one part of our strategy to make South Africa more scientifically-literate by
exposing our nation to such an “explosion in new knowledge”. Being illiterate
in maths and science in this century is as big a handicap as the inability to
read or write.

Physics, mathematics and chemistry are tools we use in order to understand
our world and our universe. If we and our children do not understand numbers,
chemical reactions, gravity or the laws of thermodynamics, we inadvertently and
deliberately make ourselves dependent on those who do because we would have
surrendered our own power.

INSITE provides us with an invaluable platform to showcase our country’s
advances in scientific knowledge and to compare and benchmark our achievements
with those of our neighbours across the world. INSITE 2006 has been designed to
give us direct exposure to our scientific and technological advances,
understand the challenges we need to address to achieve sustainable economic
growth and afford us the opportunity to create excitement among our young
people for careers in science and technology.

To this end, INSITE 2006 has been structured around three themes that have a
direct impact on our ability to address the Millennium Development Goals,
amongst other things:

1. Science and Youth – places a strong emphasis on educators, learners and
careers in science and technology. Through a series of science shows,
interactive exhibits and a range of talks that will be held on “speaker’s
corners” we aim to profile as many young role models as possible to stimulate
interest and give a sense of opportunities that are available for young people
in careers in science, engineering, and maths.

One such role model is 13 year-old Zia Maharaj, who made South Africa
extremely proud when she participated in and won a science essay and speech
competition in Japan in July this year. We are trying to convince her to come
and address her peers at INSITE and should she agree, I dare say that you will
be overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and eloquence of this young ambassador of
science!

2. In the Science for Economic Growth theme, the focus is on innovation,
discovery and the capacity for science to stimulate economic growth. A key
component here is the importance of international agreements, the lessons we
can learn from other countries and companies showcasing their new technologies,
and the prospects for exchange.

3. Science for Sustainable Development – demonstrates how science can
improve our quality of life and bring prosperity to our people. The focus
within this theme is on finding sustainable local solutions to address the
challenges that we face both in South Africa and the continent. We hope that
our lessons will provide blueprints for other countries facing similar
challenges.

We need to be a nation of scientists not only because we are competing with
other nations, but more importantly, because we need to be a nation of
scientists so that we can fight enemies such as poverty, infectious diseases
like HIV and AIDS, malaria, or tuberculosis, and lifestyle-related illnesses
such as malnutrition, obesity and diabetes. We need science to calculate and
mitigate the effects of global warming, severe storms, over-fishing, pollution
and a host of other problems. We also need science to explore the fundamental
questions facing humanity.

Journalists play such an important role in this regard, as we rely on you to
monitor our progress towards the attainment of the Millennium Development
Goals. It is only through the active participation and contribution of writers
and journalists that we can explain to all our people how scientific knowledge
can be used to fight poverty, enhance sustainable economic growth and equip our
children with the information to compete in a knowledge and technologically
dependent world.

Scientists are not always the best people to explain science. It was Ernest
Rutherford, the New Zealand born scientist and first person to split the atom,
who once told his students: "If you can explain to the person who cleans the
lab floor the essence of your work, you don’t know what you are doing." But
many scientists are so busy teaching, researching and preparing papers that
they may have to brush up on their communication skills. We need journalists to
translate, investigate, and if necessary, criticise the work of science.

Science is however not something which is of interest only to politicians,
scientists and journalists. All parents have the responsibility to ensure that
their children study science and mathematics. This does not mean that everyone
has to become a science professor, but studying science at school can open
doors to a huge variety of careers.

We need to make sure that our children understand why it is important to
study science and mathematics. It is true that some teenagers can do this on
their own, like the Germiston born Sydney Brenner, who went on to win a Nobel
Prize even though his father couldn’t read or write. But many children need an
enabling environment. There are many distractions out there, ranging from
cellular phones to iPods to computers. So we need to remind the next generation
that it is important that they become creators of technology and not just
consumers of existing technology.

I call on South Africa’s science teachers to take advantage of the many
opportunities for learning that are available through programmes run by our
research institutes and organisations. Science should be alive, not buried in a
textbook, so our teachers will have much to learn at an event such as
INSITE.

Instead of just bringing our children to shopping malls on a Saturday
morning, let us take them to events such as INSITE. There are other excellent
places all over the country, such as the Sci-Bono Centre in Johannesburg, the
UniZul Science Centre in KwaZulu-Natal and the annual national science
festival, Sci-Fest, in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape every March. Shortly
after this, the Department of Science and Technology will also be holding its
annual National Science Week during May 2007, which also brings science closer
to the people through hosting science related events and activities at science
centres and facilities throughout the country.

When you are in a shopping mall such as the Canal Walk in Cape Town or
Gateway Mall in Durban, please make sure to take a turn at the resident Science
Centre there. All of these organisations and centres are going to be exhibiting
at INSITE. So will South Africa’s renowned research institutes, such as the
Medical Research Council and the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research, which is the biggest single research organisation on the African
continent.

So from September 24 to 27, I call on everyone in South Africa, especially
those in Gauteng and surrounding provinces, to attend the International
Science, Innovation and Technology Exhibition at the Sandton Convention Centre.
Our future depends on science.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
28 August 2006