Honourable Mayor, Monsieur Pierre Cohen;
Dr Francis Duranthon, Director of the Toulouse Museum of Natural History;
Representatives from the French Institute;
Colleagues from South Africa;
Distinguished guests:
It is really a great pleasure to be here today to participate in the "South African Season in France" programme, which aims to strengthen and deepen our already warm and flourishing relationship. It is an opportunity for us to celebrate and consolidate our long standing cooperation in the field of science and technology.
South Africa was privileged to host the "French Season in South Africa", from May to November last year. It was a great success, with activities covering a wide spectrum of themes, including arts, culture, education, science, economics, business, sports and tourism.
The special relationship between South Africa and France was cemented during the recent state visit of President Hollande to South Africa. During this visit, our two Presidents reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership between our countries; to reinforce political and economic ties and cooperate in numerous fields of mutual interest.
Several agreements were signed, including a €4 billion contract between Alstom and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, for the supply of 3 600 locomotive coaches.
The Science and Technology Agreement between our two countries has resulted in a number of significant developments, including a memorandum of understanding between the South African National Space Agency and the French National Centre for Space Studies. We greatly value this, because the South African space program is still in its nascent stages and its growth and expansion can only be achieved through collaboration with more mature agencies.
One of the flagship programmes borne out of the SA-French collaboration is the PROTEA programme, which includes 19 research projects in the fields of natural resources, life sciences and engineering. By the end of 2014, 130 projects will have benefitted from this programme, and a number of student graduates will emerge from these collaborative projects, with high quality peer reviewed papers. I have no doubt that our researchers will find opportunities for further collaboration through the Horizon 2020 program.
But today, as part of our South African Season in France we are celebrating our scientific cooperation in the exciting disciplines of paleontology and archeology. Last year we had the opportunity to host an exhibition on French Prehistory at the Origins Centre of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. That excellent exhibition was facilitated by the Toulouse Museum of Natural History, and featured two prehistoric human skeletons from the Téviec site in France. It was a great success, and was visited by many South Africans who learnt a great deal about their own French heritage.
This new exhibition at this marvellous museum tells the story of two Australopithecus Sediba skeletons, discovered by Professor Lee Berger and his team from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. These two sediba skeletons come from a site we call "the Cradle of Humankind", which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. The discovery was dubbed "the most significant palaeontological find in nearly a century".
The exhibition also features the remarkable development of prehistoric technology through the Stone Ages in Southern Africa. We have brought over original examples of Early Stone Age hand axes, similar to those used in the Palaeolithic period here in France. We have also brought original stone artefacts from Middle Stone Age sites that display remarkable evidence of innovative technology, including artefacts that were probably arrowheads.
There is diverse prehistoric rock art from South Africa, showing images of eland and other African antelope, which we think were symbols of "potency", or "puissance". We even have a copy of a Southern African rock that was studied by the famous French pre-historian, the Abbe Henri Breuil. Abbe Breuil worked at the University of Witwatersrand for several years – more than 60 years ago – in close association with famous South African pre-historians such as Professors Raymond Dart, Robert Broom and Clarence van Riet Lowe.
South African pre-historians have been working closely with their French counterparts for many years. Professors David Lewis-Williams and Jean Clottes have together made important discoveries about African and European paintings and engravings that are many thousands of years old.
Furthermore, in the field of palaeo-anthropology, important discoveries about human evolution have been made by South African and French scientists, including Professor José Braga from the University of Toulouse. He has been working in close association with Professor Francis Thackeray and others, with support from France and South Africa through the South African National Research Foundation.
To quote from our country strategy for palaeontology and archaeology: "South Africa has some of the best evidence in the world on how plant and animal life developed, how hominids evolved, how modern humans originated, and how human culture began and grew, to become the modern societies we know today."
We take great pride in this priceless heritage. We don't regard ourselves as the owners of these fossils and artefacts: we believe that they are global assets and we are simply the custodians. The story that comes out of Africa is our story - and the story is that we all come from Africa. We live in different places, in all corners of the world, but we all come from the same place, we share a common ancestry, and we shape our destinies together.
And, in fact, our joint research and knowledge generated in these disciplines do prepare us for what might lie ahead, in that they assist us in our understanding of changes to our planet over time, including climatic changes, habitat loss and species extinction. This knowledge is highly relevant to the global challenges facing us today.
I would like to thank the Mayor of Toulouse, the Director of the Toulouse Museum of Natural History, the French Institute and everyone associated with this exhibition for their support and interest. This exhibition will certainly serve to promote public awareness of South Africa's heritage, just as French heritage was promoted in South Africa last year.
Above all, let us celebrate our friendship and common humanity!
