SPEECH DELIVERED BY MR ROGER JARDINE, NATIONAL CO-ORDINATOR, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY, AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA, AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, ON NOVEMBER 11, 1993
Ladies and gentlemen.
In the last few months, we have been called upon to share the ANC's viewpoint on science and technology policy to audiences around the country. It is clear to all of us that many people, especially the scientific community, are concerned about the future of science and technology under an ANC led government. It is therefore a pleasure and a privilege to have this opportunity to address the royal society of South Africa, and to share our vision for the future with you tonight.
But we cannot simply focus on the future without reflecting on the role of science and technology in the past. What has the role of science and technology been in the past? Science and technology under the National Party Government benefitted a very small section of our society. Although our country is known and recognised for the science and technology base that exists here, many of our people are still without running water, without electricity, without transport. Furthermore, most of the technology that we use is imported and assembled under strict licensing agreements.
When I was approached to speak here this evening I immediately accepted the invitation because the ANC takes science and technology policy very seriously. I could not miss the opportunity to share the ANC's science and technology policies and our vision with this audience of scientists, students, lecturers and other concerned South Africans. We know that you are concerned about the future, and those of you who are active in various areas of science and technology are especially concerned about the attitude of an ANC government to science and technology.
I have often heard people say that an ANC government will have many important priorities and that science and technology will be at the bottom of the list. The housing back-log, the inefficient system of health-care delivery, and the education crisis are just some of the priorities that a future democratically elected government will have to address. Yes, an ANC government will have major priorities, and science and technology has a very important role in addressing these priorities.
A key task of an ANC led government will be to design a new science and technology system which will address the basic needs of our people and create a climate in which our nation's scientists and engineers can be innovative.
It is fairly well known that the current science and technology system is characterised by fragmentation and lack of co-ordination. On the one hand, there is a science regime, falling under the department of national education. On the other hand, there is a technology regime, falling under the department of trade and industry. An obvious question that must be answered is how the linkage between science and technology can be brought about.
In a country like ours, characterised by poverty and lack of development, it is important that we have a strong co-ordinating institution of government through which science and technology policies are formulated, implemented and evaluated. Bringing science and technology under one umbrella will help us to develop a linkage with national development goals, and will assist the state in directing science and technology activities towards addressing basic needs.
Our nations scientists and engineers at the Atomic Energy Corporation, at Armscor, and at other strategic industrial projects must now use their talents to help rebuild the country. The ANC recognises that these institutions and the individuals that are there constitute a wealth of technology, knowledge and expertise. We know that the people there are concerned about the future, but as our president, Nelson Mandela recently said, we must not ask what they have done to us in the past, we must ask what they can do for us in the future. They have a very important role to play in the reconstruction and development of our country in the past apartheid era.
If we measure science output by the share of South African publications in the science citation index, and technology output by the share of South African patents in the USA, South Africa contributes five times as much in science as in technology. Is this a situation that a democratic South Africa will want to uphold?
I have stated before, the ANC will follow a policy that directs our country's science and technology effort towards economic growth, and meeting the needs of all our people. Our policies on support for scientific research will be driven by the extent to which social needs are addressed. In this regard, policies will be designed to increase our technology output. After all, Robert Solow won the Nobel Prize in economics for showing that 7/8 of economic growth is attributable to technological progress. We propose to achieve this goal by developing a more supportive environment for innovation, and to ensure a climate in which our scientists and engineers can thrive.
In creating such a climate, the ANC is committed to encouraging a positive attitude toward research and development. Subsidies and incentive will be considered measures. We must find a way that will encourage industry to spend a percentage of their sales on research and development.
South Africa currently spends about 0,88% of it's GDP on research and development, of which 0.32% goes to Government and academic research, and 0.56% being spent on the private sector and by the Government on non academic R&D (eg. Defence contracts). The comparable figures for some other countries as a total percentage of GDP are: Japan - 2.8% (0.23% private sector, and 2.6% to Government and academic research; France, 2.15%, with 0.45% private sector, 1.7% academic research, Australia, 1.23%, with 0.35% going to private sector research and 0.88% academic research. It is clear from these comparable figures that highly developed countries spend a greater percentage of GDP on R&D, but there is one characteristic of the R&D allocation is troubling. As the IDRC mission commented South Africa is probably the only place where there is a net flow to private sector of public funds. Far too little research is being done by industry, and we are committed to finding ways that will increase the involvement of the private sector in research and development.
Although we plan to increase our country's technological output, our attitude towards basic research remains positive. We do not accept the view that basic and applied research are diametrically opposed to each other. Indeed, we appreciate the important role that our nations scientists have to play in training the next generation of researchers. ANC policy commits us to retain a basis of fundamental research which is internationally recognised and relevant to the long term needs of the country.
The Government's skewed approach to education and the development of our human resources have left South Africa with a legacy of scientific illiteracy. Verwoerd's statement in June 1954 when he addressed the Senate on Government policy on black education has had lasting consequences for our country. He said:
"What is the use of teaching a Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice?...that is absurd. Education is not, after all, something that hangs in the air. Education must train and teach people in accordance with their opportunities in life...it is therefore necessary that native education should be controlled in such a way that it should be in accordance with the policy of the state."
We can quantify the damage: 96% of all engineers and 89% of scientists in South Africa are white. With approximately one math and science matriculation exemption for every ten thousand black school pupils. The development of our nation's human resources is going to be a very critical function of the state in our technological advancement.
I told you earlier that I came here today to share our vision on how science and technology can be used for development and to demonstrate the serious approach to this issue by the ANC. Our office of science and technology policy is located in the Department of Economic Planning. We believe that science and technology are integral and crucial components of economic growth strategy. This strategy is not new. Japan is an example of a country that has applied this strategy successfully. Japan is not known for it's Nobel laureates but for the high quality goods that are exported, and the failing economy that it turned around. We must also take serious note of the fact that whereas South Africa produces about 35 engineers per million people, Japan produces about 500 per million people.
In March we completed a major study of the science and technology system in South Africa, and I would like to share the process and some of our findings with you.
The wide spread perception that South African science and technology was experiencing a crisis of purpose and direction after decades of Apartheid led the ANC, SANCO and COSATU to initiate the first ever comprehensive study of science and technology institutions in South Africa.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC), based in Canada, funded the work of an International Mission of experts in the field of science and technology policy.
The terms of reference of the mission as it appears in the report was to describe: -- the prevailing organisation of the research system in South Africa; -- the existing arrangements for the formulation of science and technology policy within the Government; -- the present linkages between the South African research system and the social, economic or policy organisation which are expected to use the research outputs of the system -- the present arrangement for training researchers -- the existing linkages between the South African research system and other such systems in the industrialised and in the developing world, including question related to access to science and technology information -- the current system for financing research, and the priorities pursued by that financing.
The work of the mission was thus comprehensive, and examined all the elements of a science and technology policy, from the institutions that facilitate research to the performers of research.
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