Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Blade Nzimande, has insisted that, given South Africa’s – and Africa’s – historical past of discrimination and under development of parts of the population, it is imperative to “demystify science and its purposes and meaning to the lives of all people, especially the most marginalised”.
He was addressing the opening of the 32nd General Assembly of the International Astronomy Union (IAU) in Cape Town on Tuesday evening.
“Astronomy offers such an amazing opportunity to naturalise and indigenise scientific thinking within all our communities. Therefore, it is most fitting that this event will have Open Access features online, to generate scientific interest from the wider public.
“Young people have been appointed as volunteers for this event while others will be presenting their research posters, the General Assembly [GA] satellite viewing sites across Africa and astronomy ambassadors programme that has been launched throughout the continent as one of the legacy projects post the General Assembly,” Nzimande said.
On a continental scale, the Minister said it was in the interests of the international community to “broaden the participation of the African continent in astronomical sciences”.
“I would also like to recognise the efforts made by the IAU Office for Astronomy Development [OAD] and the African Astronomical Society [AfAS], both based in Cape Town in supporting other African countries to take advantage of opportunities in astronomy.
“We also see this Assembly as an opportunity for raising awareness of the IAU within the African science community and encouraging the emergence and professional development of the next generation African scientists.
“The Organising Committee of the 2024 GA has also announced that over 3000 abstracts were submitted, which is an impressive number for such an event and certainly offers an opportunity to share new sources of data and evidence to test through experimental work the explanatory value of the theoretical models developed in recent years,” he said.
A leading light
Minister Nzimande told the general assembly that government’s vision for South African astronomy is to become a “global hub for astronomical sciences and facilities as articulated in our National Strategy for Multiwavelength Astronomy of 2015”.
“The strategy provides a framework to take maximum advantage of South Africa’s historical strengths in astronomy, its geographical advantage of clear southern skies in the Karoo, the engineering and scientific base, large-scale investments in the MeerKAT/SKA endeavour and SALT [Southern African Large Telescope], and South Africa’s growing international ranking and partnerships in astronomy.
“This strategy is currently under review in consultation with the astronomy community so that it can be enhanced in order to take advantage of new opportunities in this era of multi-messenger techniques and technological innovations.
“The MeerKAT/SKA project, in particular, offers us an opportunity to contribute to the knowledge economy and the big data revolution through international collaborations and the pursuit of world-class research, thereby driving transformation and human capacity development. The SKA is the flagship frontier science partnership of the 21st century and South African remains fully committed to it,” he said.
The Minister revealed that the department is working with the Department of Tourism to develop an “astro-tourism sector through community-public-private partnerships in remote parts of South Africa”.
“We are looking forward to the approval of our newly established Astro-Tourism Strategy by Cabinet in the next few months.
“[Tourism] Minister Patricia de Lille and I will soon be co-hosting the Annual World Tourism Day in Carnarvon on 27 September 2024 – and this event will provide us with a unique opportunity to promote the preservation of dark skies and radio silence in the Karoo as this is essential for star-gazing and astro-tourism to thrive and to create jobs,” Minister Nzimande said. – SAnews.gov.za
