The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, says that South Africa boasts excellence in a large number of cutting-edge science and technology domains that can contribute to eradicating poverty.She was addressing the 2016 Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Social Science Research Conference in Johannesburg last night.
Held under the theme ʺPoverty and inequality: diagnosis, prognosis, responsesʺ, the two-day gathering provides a platform for scholarly and research-based exchanges and creates awareness of the range of current and planned research work of the HSRC.
The Minister urged the countryʹs social scientists to assist in eradicating inequality, which will contribute to the country being a better place for all who to live in it.
ʺThe social sciences have a critical role to play in helping us to understand our changing country, our changing continent, and our changing world, ʺ the Minister said.
While South Africa had achieved considerable success in eradicating poverty through mechanisms such as social grants, the country had yet to do the same with regard to inequality. ʺWealth and poverty continue to reflect our racially divided past. South Africa's Gini coefficient, which measures economic inequality, shows that we are one of the most unequal countries in the world, ʺ said the Minister.
Two thirds of the countryʹs poor live in rural areas, and their income is pegged below the national poverty line. Furthermore, they lack access to many basic public services.
Citing the French economist, Thomas Picketty, Minister Pandor said inequality rose from inherited wealth;unequal enrichment led inevitably t oeconomic failure.
However, the answer lay in education, as excellence in mathematics and science at school and at tertiary level offered a better chance of useful employment in this science-and-technology-driven world.
The Minister pointed out that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) drives research and innovation in five priority areas, namely, bio-sciences for public health and food security; creating a better understanding of and mitigating the impact of global change; achieving energy security; optimally exploiting the potential of space science and technology; and putting science and technology to work in tackling poverty and exclusion in our transitional society.
ʺMyvision for South Africa is that of a dynamic and connected information society based on an economy that is inclusive and prosperous. The HSRC has a vital contribution to make to the achievement of such a society. The CSIRʹs wireless mesh network, which brings Internet connectivity to rural areas, is narrowing the digital divide and enables micro-enterprise development in poverty-stricken areas, ʺ the Minister said.
The DSTʹs programmes to lift people out of poverty, especially in remote rural areas through science-and-technology-based interventions, have attracted significant international interest from partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. South Africa is now at the forefront of innovative programmes to provide decent sanitation services to impoverished communities.
Clearly, the HSRC has a critical contribution to make to the achievement of such a society.
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