Chairperson, I would like to thank all hon members for their contribution to the debate on this very important Budget Vote. The hon Kalyan said I should come down from orbit or something. I wasn't in orbit, she may be in Sputnik in 1960, [Laughter.] but I am very much into 2009. No, that's your age, Madam. [Laughter.]
Let me say there appears to be a very peculiar fascination with the notion that we are directing or diverting funds from important programmes to the Technology Innovation Agency, TIA. This implication, that we didn't plan to budget for the TIA, is not proven by the budget speech Minister Mangena gave in the budget debates of 2008 for the 2008-09 budget, where it was indicated that a budget line item would be created for the TIA specifically. There is no diversion of funds to the TIA from other programmes. It is part of the line items within the budget of this department. And so, there has been no diversion of funding to something else. I am not sure where hon members get this. I always advise hon members to be very careful about taking newspaper articles as gospel. It's very, very dangerous. [Applause.]
I would like for the hon Smith and I to sit down and compare our reading of the World Economic's Global Forum Competitiveness Report which was released at the World Economic Forum, WEF. My reading says 45th, not 55th as he said, up three places and out of 134 countries that are part of this survey. We are also, at 45th, leading in Africa. We are ahead of Tunisia and Botswana, which have risen 20 places. So, I am not sure what survey you were reading, but we certainly, from the report, seem to be doing much better than we've done previously.
The hon members from the DA seem a bit perturbed at the responses, but this is the reality and the facts. The space budget is certainly not an opinion but a fact, and I'd suggest that you study the budget of science and technology. [Applause.]
The space budget, which was referred to as being larger than biotechnology and other areas, includes provision for the Square Kilometre Array funding, that's why it appears to be a very large budget. It's rather inflated because of that inclusion of the Square Kilometre Array, SKA, given its relationship to space and satellite technology. So, it gives the impression that it is larger than biotechnology and the funding for health. But, because the SKA is going to take up a large portion of the space funding, I think we shouldn't be concerned that we are detracting from the investment we must make in biotechnology and other aspects.
On the matter of scarce skills, I must say, in my previous life, we developed a very good relationship with the Department of Home Affairs and we were able to secure many visas for academics and teachers who wished to work in South Africa. [Applause.] Currently, as the Department of Science and Technology, we are going to work in a similar fashion. I mentioned that scientists are already coming to our country to spend time in some of our wonderful centres of competence at the University of the Western Cape - I see the vice-chancellor and his team are here - and we have various visitors from universities in Europe and elsewhere for whom we were able to facilitate immigration procedures. That is something that we address very well.
On the matter of PhD targets, again, I would ask hon members to really look at our full annual report and documents pertaining to it, then they will see that it's not just a single National Research Foundation, NRF, doctoral research funding programme that we have. There are a number of instruments that we are utilising as the vehicle for expanding this pool of researchers that we wish to build: We have the South African Research Chairs Programme that I referred to; we have the centres of excellence and competence that colleagues spoke of; we have a post-doctoral programme that, again, is under the auspices of the NRF; we have a Research Professional Development Programme, (PDP) - each of them has distinct funding; and we have an innovators bursary scheme for Honours, Masters and PhD students.
By using these instruments, we believe that we are going to reach targets that are realistic for a ten-year innovation plan. We are seeing young people taking up, in particular, the bursaries and the opportunities to work with the Research Chairs and in the centres of excellence. I think, and we are convinced that, we must proceed to seek to reach this particular target. It is very important for our country. We must expand the pool of competent researchers that are well qualified and well able to carry out high level research. And, I believe, we shouldn't really believe that we are overambitious or not funding flagship interventions by the department.
With regard to the funding of the NRF, which was reported on in that newspaper article, this has been sustained by the department in line with National Treasury allocations. The NRF has not been treated any differently than other science councils that we support with funding such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, the Human Sciences Research Council, HSRC, and so on. The notion that we have again taken money from the NRF, from the doctoral training interventions, is a totally mistaken notion and I would really be careful in my reading of the newspapers.
We have established four competency centres, as we had announced we would do. As the Deputy Minister Hanekom indicated to the hon Kalyan, he could give the detail as to what happened with the Savi Programme, but that detail will also indicate that we continue to fund HIV and Aids research, but we are doing this through a new vehicle, in no way detracting from our ambition to actually arrive at a vaccine with respect to this pandemic. I hope you will have lunch or tea with Deputy Minister Hanekom. I don't know what forum he intends to use, but he was very direct with you. So, I hope he will clarify the issues for you in very clear terms.
Hon Ngcobo, we are concerned, of course, about matters of climate change. It is an issue that we are very involved in as a department. In fact, we are playing a very important role in a number of initiatives, research and innovations, and other work that we are doing through the Global Earth Observing System of Systems. I am sure you could share with officials in the department some experiences as to what more Parliament believes could be done in order to ensure that Members of Parliament play a role in some of the international initiatives in this area. We are very deeply involved, and of course we are concerned, as members have indicated, that we must attend to issues of climate change. We didn't devote a great deal of time to discuss climate change because it occupied over an hour of the debate in environment and tourism. We thought it had been dealt with sufficiently there and we needed to pick up on other aspects, and the intention is not to neglect it as part of the problematic work of the department. Just as the Deputy Minister indicated, of course, the issue of new and renewable sources of energy, waste management and how we deal with that all form part of the work that we continue to do.
With respect to the Joule - an announcement will be made, it has not been ditched - we are seeing some exciting developments there. And I certainly will come to the portfolio committee to indicate where we are moving in the next stage with that car.
Certainly, in building research capacity, we are addressing the five platforms that are in the 10-year innovation plan. So, the Farmer to Pharma strategy forms part of what we should focus on, like issues of renewable energy and space science, particularly with respect to satellite and space science. These are all areas that are receiving attention in the interventions in research development that we have made.
I agree, hon Smith, we must set a new target. I think we have reached 1%, we are almost there, but I think we must set a more ambitious target for the country. I believe we haven't, as yet, seen the potential that exists in technology and innovation for South Africa. I think, if we could come to grips with the potential, there is a wonderful future confronting us and the young people of our country. So I absolutely agree with you that we should increase funding there.
On the aging researchers, clearly the interventions of the National Research Forum that I mentioned are linked to providing us with new young researchers. But we want to use the ageing researchers as mentors. We don't want to ditch them. They have wonderful skills. We want to use it to build this new capacity that is so vital for our country. Hon Ntuli, we would all agree with the comments you have made about science and schooling, and the efforts of the Department of Education - I understand they will have their Budget Vote in a week or so. They will probably give more detail as to what is being done to ensure that we do respond to the issues you have raised - issues of language and science, mother tongue instruction and its place in school and in higher education. All of those will probably be dealt with in the debate that will be held by the two Ministers of education.
Hon Bhoola, we are already exploring expanding information technology skills in the country. Hon Chairperson, I encourage all the members to read our annual reports, our corporate strategy and to really look at past reports of Science and Technology, so that when we discuss these matters, we are fully familiar with all the interventions and all the successes that the Deputy Minister outlined so clearly.
Finally, again the hon Kalyan asked me if I am going to employ a scientist. Let me just turn to my officials. How many of you have PhDs? Could you put up your hands please? [Laughter.] [Applause.] I think that collectively we have six PhDs in senior management. We probably have a collection that makes up a fairly experienced scientific research team. And certainly, in doing our work, we do work with senior scientists. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]