The ANC congratulates the Minister of Science and Technology, her department, and the Square Kilometre Array, SKA, Project Office for successfully leading the bid to host the global SKA radio telescope project. The unambiguous recommendation of the SKA Site Advisory Committee, SSAC, that the project be located in Southern Africa, is noted as the soundest scientific outcome. On Friday, 25 May 2012 the SKA organisation met at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands and concluded that, in order to be inclusive and to make the best use of existing investments in the project, one of the three SKA receiver components should be constructed in Australia. We accept the compromise in the interest of science and as an acknowledgement of the sterling work done by our scientists and the SKA project, as well as the importance of international collaboration in this global project.
An important aspect of the site decision is the recognition of the MeerKAT telescope, being designed and built in the Northern Cape Karoo by South African scientists and engineers, as a critical step towards the implementation of the SKA. [Time expired.]