Address by the Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, on the occasion of the public announcement of the New South African Research Chairs by the Deputy President, the Hon. Kgalema Motlanthe, at the Sheraton Hotel
Programme Director;
Honourable Deputy President Motlanthe;
Deputy Minister Masutha;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Chair holders;
Leaders of Science Councils;
Vice Chancellors; Deputy Vice Chancellors; Heads of Research from the Higher Education Sector;
CEOs of the DST's entities;
Members of the media;
Distinguished guests:
It is a great honour for me to open today's proceedings and introduce our keynote speaker.
The purpose of today's proceedings is to announce the filling of 54 new chairs that have been established in terms of the South African Research Chairs Initiative – or SARChI.
These research chairs are special, state-funded academic posts that are designed to recognise academic talent and achievement. More importantly, the chairs provide a platform from which scientific talent can realise its fullest potential, while supporting research in areas of vital importance to South Africa, and also fostering the next generation of academics.
As will be explained in more detail in the course of today’s proceedings, SARChI is a flexible, strategic tool that has evolved in interesting ways since its inception in 2006. These additional 54 chairs bring the current total to 157 chairs, representing a cumulative investment of just under a billion Rands. This, ladies and gentlemen, has translated into the creation of about a thousand of new jobs in the innovation system, in part by providing a much-needed stepping stone for associate researchers and postdoctoral students.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to inform you that the SARChi initiative is already bearing fruit. The Research Chair in Drug Discovery, hosted by the University of Cape Town under the leadership of Prof. Kelly Chibale, has in collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria Venture based in Switzerland, discovered a compound that not only has the potential to become part of a single-dose cure for all strains of malaria, but might also be able to block transmission of the parasite from person to person. The team has also developed and identified a candidate suitable for pre-clinical development. The compound will be the first-ever clinical candidate researched on African soil as part of a modern pharmaceutical drug discovery programme.
Interestingly, our approach to research chairs has a long and distinguished history. The first such chairs seem to have been initiated by Marcus Aurelius, who was Roman Emperor – over 18 centuries ago. Through Aurelius, the Roman state instituted four publicly-funded academic chairs, one each for the major schools of philosophy at the time, before proceeding to create a number of others. Thus, originally, academic chairs were not established by rich people as monuments to themselves – as tends to be the case in Europe and the US through "academic endowments" – but by the state, out of reverence for the pursuit of truth, which by definition serves the common good.
Aurelius was in fact a significant thinker in his own right. In his famous Meditations, he wrote: "Everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapour, and life is warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after-fame is oblivion. What then is that which is able to conduct a man? One thing and only one – philosophy".
Of course, in Aurelius's day, philosophy was not merely an abstract discipline for irascible old men with long beards; it meant quite simply, the "love of knowledge", and thus encompassed much of what we would today recognise as the natural and social sciences.
We recognise in South Africa that the "love of knowledge" is key to meeting the aspirations and overcoming the challenges and problems of our young democracy. We also recognise that, while the process of creating new knowledge is not a simple matter of opening a tap, there is much that the state can accomplish by means of action that is considered, creative and ambitious.
These are exciting times for human capital development in the National System of Innovation. Apart from today's milestone event, the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation recently published a statement on the outcomes of the awards of yet another flagship human capital development instrument – the awarding of five new Centres of Excellence. Moreover, the National Treasury pledged an additional R400 million for the 2015/16 financial year as extra support to postgraduate bursaries.
Thanks in large measure to our determined attention to human capital development, as well as other aspects of a healthy innovation system, promising discoveries are now being announced by South Africans at an exhilarating pace. On Monday, together with the Minister of Health, Minister Motsoaledi, I attended a press announcement by the CAPRISA consortium on the discovery of potent new antibodies against HIV – a step that takes researchers closer to devising a vaccine or treatment. Deputy President, I am sure you agree with me that this is a good story to tell.
This new phase of SARChI that we are celebrating today is further evidence of our commitment to a knowledge-based society and the development of the human capital that will steer it. Filling these chairs involves a rigorous, two-phase process spanning a number of months. In the first phase, universities compete for the right to host the newly-established chairs, and in the second, individuals compete for the honour of filling the allocated chairs.
Why are research chairs called "chairs"? It has to do with the idea that, as much as holding a chair is a personal duty and honour, it is a seat that eventually must be occupied by another. The pursuit of knowledge is not owned by a particular person, rather it is shared and endless. So while we welcome our new esteemed chairs, please use this opportunity to advance the standing and value of your field of research, and be ready to hand over the chair to the emerging new scholars in due course.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my honour to introduce our keynote speaker, a man who could have taught Marcus Aurelius a thing or two about human grace, and about a life of service and duty.
As the Deputy President, Mr Motlanthe bears a number of responsibilities, including leader of Government Business in the National Assembly, leader of the Anti-Poverty Programme, chairperson of the Energy Advisory Council, chairperson of the Human Resource Development Council, and chairperson of the South African National Aids Council.
Beyond this, I know Kgalema Motlanthe as a man of integrity, courage, humility and fairness, whose support to issues of science and technology I have deeply appreciated.
Honourable Deputy President, it is an honour and privilege for us to have you in our midst.
Thank you.
