The Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, will lead the science community in paying their last respects to the world icon and former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.
Mr Hanekom is one of the four current Cabinet Ministers who served in former President Mandela's National Executive. Mr Hanekom was Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs in Mr Mandela's Cabinet from 1996-1999.
To honour former President Mandela, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology team has programmed the beacon identification of the recently launched nanosatellite Tshepiso to "Madiba". For the duration of the mourning period, the message "Madiba" will be transmitted every 30 seconds as the CubeSat orbits the Earth, and will be received by radio amateurs and other CubeSat groups from across the globe.
Mr Hanekom will be hosting a memorial service at the CSIR Convention Centre, Pretoria, for the staff of the Department of Science and Technology and its entities (the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Technology Innovation Agency, the Human Sciences Research Council, the National Research Foundation, the Academy of Science of South Africa, and the South African National Space Agency). The memorial service is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 12 December 2013, from 11:00 to 13:00.
For more information, please contact:
Tommy Makhode
Cell: 082 379 8268
