KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements and Public Works, MEC Jomo Sibiya,

Zululand District Municipality Mayor, Cllr Thulasizwe Buthelezi;

The Local Mayors of AbaQulusi, eDumbe, Nongoma, Ulundi and uPhongolo Local Municipalities;

Speakers of all Local Municipalities;

All Councilors present;

Directors-General present;

The Chairperson of UniZulu Council; Ms Nomarashiya Caluza

UniZulu Vice Chancellor, Professor Xoliswa Mtose;

Head of Departments;

Leadership of all our state entities, including all our SETAs and Higher Health CEO, Prof Ramneek Ahluwalia;

Municipal Managers;

All Public Servants from national, provincial and local municipalities;

Members of the media;

Ladies and gentlemen

Sanibonani nonke!

I am happy to be back to the Zululand District, even though with a heavy heart  as the Zulu people and South Africa as a whole is still mourning the passing of Isilo Samabandla His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.

Once again, on behalf of both my departments and its entities and on my own behalf, I continue to express my deepest condolences to the Royal Family and to the Zulu nation on this profound loss.

This morning, I was planning to visit Inkosi, Ubaba uButhelezi to further pass our condolences but also to brief him on the progress we made in rolling out the Zululand District Development.

Those who were part of our launching meeting, will recall that uShenge joined us on that day. So, I deem it appropriate that we brief him on our progress.

His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini Kabhekuzulu was a man of who strongly advocated for  a people centred development. He also epitomised the love of one’s own culture and its value systems.

He was a great visionary and had deep insights on how best to develop our country and its people.

It is therefore befitting that we dedicate this meeting today to the memory of His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini, who was fond of his people and committed to their development.

Again, on a sad note, amongst us, asiphelelanga. Late in January this year, we lost our Provincial District Champion, the KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC, Mr Bheki Ntuli.

In my written statement on the 21st of January 2021,  I passed my condolences to his family, the KwaZulu Natal provincial government, friends and relatives.

MEC Ntuli, was not only a colleague, but a comrade and a leader who would take up any task given to him, no matter how big or small. He was not a person who was content with self-enrichment at the expense of the poor and the working class and the marginalised majority.

He always demonstrated the level of political consciousness that was so sacrosanct. Indeed in him, we have lost a leader and a gallant fighter and defender of human rights.

Those of us who remain behind, we are therefore challenged to follow on his leadership teachings by becoming selfless, dedicated, loyal and outright leaders and servants of the people.

I therefore would like to thank the provincial government, led by Premier Sihle Zikalala, who appointed an equally competent replacement for Umphemba. I officially welcome the new provincial DDM Champion, MEC of Human Settlements and Public Works, Mr Jomo Sibiya. You are welcomed Ndaba, Sotobe, Sibiya ngenkomo.

I must upfront indicate MEC that you have not lost much of the work that has been done thus far because we are almost at the beginning of our processes as this is our second meeting.

In our first meeting we committed ourselves to work together as the three spheres of government and established a Steering Committee comprising of officials from the national, provincial, the district municipality, local municipalities, the University of Zululand and Higher HEALTH. The Steering Committee  process decisions of this political structure and report back to it.

Today, we will be receiving the identified projects from the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Department of Science and Innovation, the University of Zululand and Higher Health.

One of the most critical activity today will be the visit to the Hlongwane family at Ward 12, in Ulundi.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa specifically states that every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation.

Having said that, it is a known fact that the current status of Early Childhood Development (ECD) provisioning in South Africa reveals that government provides financial support to the ECD centres and ECD programmes, however, more needs to be done,working together with both  the Department of Social Development and Department of Basic Education.

We  therefore have to work together as all spheres of government to deal with all our society’s socio-economic ills which are characterised by the new fourfold crises facing capitalism globally today, which are:

• COVID-19;
• Deepening economic crisis; locally and globally;
• The multiple crises of socio-economic sustainability for families, households and communities, and
• Climate Change.

I am pleased that today we are meeting in the wake of the launch of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan by the President on the 15th  October 2020, in response to the unprecedented challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic on our domestic economy.

The President has also given us further marching orders when he delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 11th February 2021, by identifying the following four overriding priorities for 2021, which are critical. These priorities are:

• Defeating the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Accelerating our economic recovery;
• Implementing economic and social reforms to create sustainable jobs and drive inclusive growth and finally; and
• Fighting corruption and strengthening the state.

Our economy has been stagnant for decades with low levels of investment and growth, leading to accelerated reproduction of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Whilst we are clear that the major causes of our distorted and unequal growth path are deeply structural and tied up with our particular economic and social history, it is also true that the Covid-19 global pandemic has put a significant strain on our collective efforts to tackle these social ills, as identified in the National Development Plan.

President Ramaphosa launched the District Development Model to ensure that we identify areas which needs immediate intervention, to be jointly tackled by all the spheres of government, in order to change the lives of the people.

The District Development Model affords government to have an integrated planning mechanism using institutionalised, integrated, district-based, development approach aimed at fast-tracking service delivery and ensuring that municipalities work together with provincial and national government, and are adequately supported and resourced to carry out their mandate.

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION INTERVENTIONS

Higher Health and the fight against COVID-19

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are in the second year and the second wave of the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic which is ravaging our society.

As we gather today, we now understand the challenges we face much -better than we did during the inception and the first wave of this pandemic.

This has in good part been as a result of our entire government leadership through the Cabinet and NCCC as led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, and the dedicated leadership from all our stakeholders, including our health, wellness and development agencies, like HIGHER HEALTH in our PSET sector.

When embarking on the COVID 19 response, HIGHER HEALTH was able to put to good use the knowledge, experience, student and staff networks that took nearly two decades to set up in the PSET sector to address HIV, TB, STIs and other health and wellness challenges within our campuses.

In collaboration with other experts, scientists and stakeholders, especially the World Health Organisation (WHO), the National Institute of Communicable Deceases (NICD), our sister Department of Health, and other agencies, HIGHER HEALTH formulated comprehensive programmes, systems, controls and infrastructure to respond to COVID 19 through guidelines, protocols and capacity building that are grounded in latest epidemiological data and trends.

You will also recall that last year in our first DDM engagement, that through HIGHER HEALTH, I launched 10 fully furnished mobile clinic units to enhance health services at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Community Education and Training (CET) colleges, and universities around the country. The fleet provides primary healthcare mainly to underserved campuses. The Zululand District is amongst the districts that are benefiting out of this service at our universities and colleges.

Today, HIGHER HEALTH, will share more details on their strategy and plans for our PSET institutions in the Zululand District.

National Skills Fund (NSF) contribution

In my first visit to the district, I indicated that as part of my contribution  to  skills development in this district, the National Skills Fund (NSF), working together with the Zululand Ditrict Municipality and all the local municipalities will  identify strategic skills development programmes in which the NSF should provide funds to support such projects  as part of the District Development Model.

As a result, the NSF solicited proposals for artisan development, targeting private training providers in the following areas:

• Water and sanitation;
• Electrical training;
• Mechanical fitting;
• Millwright;
• Bricklaying;
• Welding; and
• Plumbing.

All the above are in the category of scarce skills and those skills that are in high demand. A presentation will be made in this regard by the Department of Higher Education and Training in this regard.

One of our foremost commitments is to expand the University of Zululand to Ulundi. This will be done in order to ensure that the University contributes to the socio-economic, education and general development of Ulundi and the surrounding areas.

The University of Zululand will make a presentation on the planning work that has already been done. Together with the Department of Higher Education, they will also provide us with targets and plans for the establishment of this campus.

THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION (DSI) CONTRIBUTION

The DSI established two committees, DDM Inter-Programme Committee and DDM Entities Committee.

The officials nominated to serve in the Committees were tasked to analyse the municipal profiles of each of the Municipalities to understand the challenges and the catalytic projects undertaken by the Municipalities.

On the basis of the Municipal profiles, the Committee Members defined a criteria for selection of projects and identified projects that are more responsive to the challenges facing the Municipality.

The DSI identified the following programmes and projects for possible implementation in the Zululand District Municipality:

• The Basic Service Delivery Technology Demonstrations;
• The Grassroots Innovation Programme;
• The Youth in Science and Technology Journalism Programme;
• The Schools ICT readiness Maturity Assessment Tool;
• The Technology Acquisition and Deployment Fund;
• The Municipal Innovation Maturity Index;
• The Corrective Action Request and Report System;
• The Community Wireless Networks;
• The Climate Risk and Vulnerability Atlas;
• The Innovation for Local Economic Development; and
• The Living Labs Programme;
• The Imvelisi Youth Enviro-preneurship Programme; and
• The District Development Model Fora, Innovation Fund, innovation Plan, Innovation Charter and Innovation Champions.

Further to this, the DSI in partnership with the European Union will implement the Viability and Validation of Innovations for Service Delivery Programme (VVISDP) to demonstrate, pilot and evaluate the suitability and viability of technologies and innovations that can improve the delivery of basic services, improve performance and functioning of Municipalities.

The Department of Science and Innovation will expand on this during their presentation on these identified projects.

In conclusion, let me take this opportunity to thank members of the Steering Committee for their hard work and dedication to this process.

I also like to thank MEC Sibiya, all the Mayors, Councillors of all our municipalities, our national departments and government agencies and international organisations which are working together with us to ensure that we realise our plans.

I thank you so much colleagues for your undivided support and attention you pay to this programme. Indeed together, we can do more.

Lastly, South Africa, as in most countries around the world, we are not yet ready to return to normal life. For the second year in a row, we again have to strictly follow the health protocols necessary to contain and defeat Covid 19. This is so because we are still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Let us not drop our guts. Let us continue to keep all our health and safety protocols, by wearing our masks, keeping the physical distance and use sanitisers.

I thank you all for your time and commitment.

Thank you

Dr Riina Kionka, the European Union Ambassador to South Africa;

Mr Tudor Constantinescu, Principal Adviser to the Director General for Energy at the European Commission;

Mr Chris Yelland, the Managing Director at EE Business Intelligence;

Mr Thomas Roos and Dr. Jarrad Wright, Representative of the CSIR Energy;

Ms Monica Swanson, International Business Manager: Hydrogen Projects;

Mr Marc Aartsen, International Programme Manager: Ports Projects, at the Port of Rotterdam;

Mr Peter Mackey, Vice Principal Strategy & Policy Support for the Hydrogen Energy Business Line at Air Liquide;

Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz, Head of Division: New Energy Solutions, at Enertrag AG, Germany, and CEO of Enertrag South Africa;

Thiago Almeida, Sector Lead: Power and Infrastructure, at Nedbank CIB

My advisors and the Ministry Staff

Officials from the Department of Science and Innovation and the Department of Higher Education and Training;

Invited guests;

Ladies and gentlemen;

Members of the media

I am grateful to be joining you today in this webinar on renewable hydrogen and green powerfuel opportunities for South Africa.

This event provides us with an opportunity to also launch a detailed study on powerfuels and green hydrogen powerfuels and the opportunities arising for South Africa, commissioned by EU-SA Partners for Growth Programme.

The fact that this event takes place remotely due to COVID-19 does not in any way reduce our commitment to vigorously promote the development of of renewable fuels as key energy sources in our society and our economy at large. What the coronavirus pandemic has taught us is to find new innovative ways to advance our socio-economic objectives.

The pandemic continues to cause severe damage to the global economy, affecting trade, investment, production, international travel and global supply and demand.

It is now known that no country or economy has been spared  by the ravaging effects of this pandemic.

South Africa has been affected in distinctive ways by the new fourfold crises facing capitalism globally, which are:

• COVID-19;
• deepening economic crisis; locally and globally;
• the multiple crises of socio-economic sustainability for families, households and communities, and
• Climate Change.

This webinar also comes at a time when we are as a country also focusing on extraordinary measures of economic recovery and reconstruction to achieve inclusive growth following the devastation caused by COVID-19 to our people’s lives and our country’s economy.

This is a plan on which all of us as South Africans must work together to build a new economy.

The objectives of the plan are clear:

• To create jobs, primarily through aggressive infrastructure investment and mass employment programmes;
• To reindustrialise our economy, focusing on growing small businesses;
• To accelerate economic reforms to unlock investment and growth;
• To fight crime and corruption; and
• To improve the capability of the state.

All these objectives are linked to the vision of our country set out in the National Development Plan.

The depth of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened our resolve to address our massive socio-economic challenges.

At the centre of our Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, is the creation of sustainable jobs. Our determination is to get our people back into the jobs they lost during the pandemic.

We are also determined to create more employment opportunities for those who were unemployed before the pandemic or who had given up looking for work.

This means unleashing the potential of our economy by, among others, implementing administrative reforms, removing regulatory barriers that increase costs and create inefficiencies in the economy, securing a stable energy supply, and freeing up digital infrastructure.

We therefore view this webinar  on renewable energy and green powerfuel opportunities for South Africa amongst the critical and leading instruments towards our economic recovery.

There is growing scientific evidence suggesting that accelerated global warming, driven by increased release of CO2 into the atmosphere, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and forms of mass agriculture driving zoonotic risks may lead to the frequent emergence of future global pandemics.  Future economic planning has to take the stabilization of the earth’s climate and retention of natural capital as central features of our growth strategies. Clearly, the shift away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels in favour of greener, renewable energy forms is crucial in this regard.

Alternative and renewable sources of energy, like solar and green hydrogen-based sources of energy, are precisely what we need to prevent the world and its life from being destroyed by pandemics in future.

The advantage of renewable hydrogen and green powerfuels must make it possible for us to provide cheap and sustainable sources of alternative and renewable energy to ordinary people, the workers and poor in our country including the rural areas.

Renewable energy must not only be accessible to the wealthy and better- off in society, it must be accessible to all. That is the reason I strongly believe that a public company such as Eskom must position itself to play a leading role in this space of the renewable hydrogen and green powerfuels.

Given the context of today’s occasion, I would therefore like to focus my address on how science, technology and innovation (STI) could play an important role in  providing solutions to a sustainable and inclusive economic development.

In our innovation-led economic growth and development strategy, the key challenge is that of addressing what is sometimes referred to as the  “Innovation Chasm”, which provides for the addressing and removing barriers that slows down and in some cases prevents the movement of ideas and inventions from the laboratory into the productive economy and society.

This is a challenge that South Africa has long identified and which our President, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa requires my department of Science and Innovation to address by focusing sharply on removing all barriers to enable South Africa to successfully overcome the ‘innovation chasm’.

In demonstrating this commitment, the President also brought together the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Department of Science and Innovation under one Ministry with the aim of  closely aligning our skills development and innovation strategies much closer together in order to facilitate an innovation-led economic growth and development strategy.

It remains our intention to fully utilise this space and further strengthen our innovation led development.

Some of our new higher education, science and innovation landscape opportunities that can be exploited is the advancement of the renewable hydrogen and green powerfuel industry and the role that the Energy and Water SETA and the Wholesale and Retail SETA can play by launching a training programme to expand skills development initiatives to support other alternative sources of energy, such as the renewable hydrogen and green powerfuel training.

The entities in my two departments should exploit these opportunities, including of course involvement of our technical and vocational education training colleges (TVET) in such initiatives, which will add to the already existing training that is offered by some of our universities.

It seems also an ideal time for us empower our TVET colleges, in partnership with industry, to begin with training of green artisans and other mid-level skills in the value chain of the green economy we seek to develop. In this regards, I am proud that my Department, through the HySA programme in partnership with Bambili Energy, a woman-owned company, the University of Pretoria and the Water and Energy SETA have started to provide training to TVET and University of Technology graduates in the installation and maintenance of Hydgrogen Fuel cells. A first cohort of trainees graduated in December 2020.

On the further development of skills by academia, through the National Research Foundation (NRF), our country continues to develop skilled workers capable to generate new ideas and knowledge.

I am pleased to indicate that the significant portion of the NRF budget to date goes towards Human Capital Development initiatives.

The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARCHi) and the Centres of Excellence initiative are invaluable research instruments to develop and promote new knowledge and skills in new fields.

It should be noted that this is a fraction of investments made by the Department of Higher Education and Training in skills development, and therefore in making use of the new Higher Education, Science and Innovation landscape a lot more pivotal.

Our Renewable Energy RDI Programmes are not just producing the next generation of scientists and engineers for the workforce but the next generation of business leaders and public sector managers and policy experts.

South Africa’s has a comparative advantage when it comes to  renewable hydrogen and green power fuels.

We have a unique competitive advantage in the production of green powerfuels. The exceptional wind and solar natural resources, which together with abundant low-cost land, 50 years of experience in the commercial production of synthetic fuels using the Fischer-Tropsch process, and good shipping access to the rapidly growing international markets of the European Union and the Far East, including China and Japan, should position us as a key role player in renewable hydrogen and green powerfuels, both locally and internationally.

In December 2019, my Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) appointed an independent panel of experts to review the second phase of implementation of the Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Programme. 

At the end of the second phase of implementation over 1 billion Rands had been invested.  At the early stage of the implementation of this programme we succeeded to attain outputs such as publications, Masters and PhD students and registered patents. The key challenge now is to turn this intellectual capital into developmental and commercial gains to fuel the next generation companies to drive the energy economy of the future.

According to the second HySA Five Year Review, there is a  lack of an overarching policy on a South African hydrogen economy. This is  a threat to the successful implementation of the HySA programme especially given that the uptake of commercial products into the domestic market is critical.  

South Africa is one of the pioneers in terms of developing a hydrogen strategy which we launched in 2007. From January 2019 to December 2020, 18 more countries released their national hydrogen strategies linking the growth of a hydrogen economy towards supporting a green and circular economy to speed up economic recovery post COVID-19. 

In our country, this strategy is led by the my Department of Science and Innovation amongst others to ensure maximum return on investment into HySA.

As a country, building on the strategy, we developed a South African Hydrogen Roadmap to set out a vision for an inclusive hydrogen society so that an enabling compact between industry, labour, community and government can be developed. 

This Hydrogen Society Roadmap will assist and enable our government and industrial stakeholders to put in place a policy framework required to promote the exploitation of the benefits that hydrogen provides through its integration into the various sectors of the economy.

It is our aim to position this policy framework to leverage on the existing relevant government policy documents as well as identify gaps within the regulatory regime that needs to be addressed to enable the widespread use of hydrogen as an energy source in the economy and society.

In addition, this framework will leverage on the successes achieved through the HySA RDI Programme to transition the R&D and demonstration phase into the commercial phase, and ultimately lead to the achievement of economic and social benefits for the country.

Through the DSI, we commenced stakeholder engagement process in June 2020 with over 50 stakeholders across the private sector, government and parastatals. 

At the end of November 2020, the project team completed the first draft of the Hydrogen Society Roadmap. We are now hard at work to ensure that we integrate  issue of Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) in this process.  It is our considered view that this process should form a major part  of our sectors contribution to the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan targeting hydrogen and the fuel cell sector.

Ladies and gentlemen, South Africa also participates in international partnerships  that supports science diplomacy in renewable hydrogen and green powerfuels.

As a country we will put in place strategic international partnerships especially with countries looking to import and trade in the global hydrogen value chain. We will also ensure that our local universities and private sector are given an opportunity to play a pivotal part in the green hydrogen economy.

Our research, development and innovation will be critical to ensure that the cost of electrolyser technology is reduced and that green hydrogen and power fuels production is scaled up in order to bring the price of the commodity at parity with grey hydrogen. 

As part of our commitments made under the White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation, as a Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) we aim to attract foreign investment into South African with a target to secure at least 15% of South Africa’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development from international sources with a long term goal to grow the ratio over time. 

As a department, we made available R 1.2 billion worth of funding proposals in the 2020/21 financial year (FY) to international funding calls in areas relevant to enabling South African academia and private sector participation in the global hydrogen economy.  Through this process, we received a total of five proposals ranging from smaller to larger funding amounts.  These proposals includes the following:

• European Union (EU) Green Deal Funding Call – Hydrogen Corridor Consortium;
• The European Union (EU) Green Deal Funding Call – Carbon Capture and Use Consortium;
• The CLIENT II – Carbon Capture and Use Consortium;
• The SATREPS – Green Ammonia Consortium;
• French-South Africa Bilateral on Hydrogen; and
• The African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) Long-Term Joint EU-AU Research and Innovation Partnership on Renewable Energy (LEAP-RE).

The officials from my department will provide details on these proposals should more information be required.

However, I would like to make a reflection on the official launch of the detailed study on green powerfuels and the opportunities arising for South Africa, commissioned by EU-SA Partners for Growth Programme.

The EU-SA Partners for Growth Programme supports the EU Delegation (EUD) in South Africa (SA) in its efforts to maximise bilateral trade and investment flows between the EU and SA.

Powerfuels are synthetic gaseous or liquid fuels based on renewable hydrogen, which is hydrogen (H2) obtained by the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity. Powerfuels comprise pure hydrogen, hydrocarbons and ammonia.

Some Powerfuels are hydrocarbons, in which case the carbon required for their production must be obtained from captured CO2.

While the EU Hydrogen Strategy does not currently place conditions on the CO2 used, in future the feedstock and process will be relevant when greenhouse gas emissions thresholds will be set.

A technical workshop on Powerfuels was held in December 2019 in South Africa, hosted by the EU-SA Partnership together with WITS Business School. The aims of the workshop were to explore the potential of a Powerfuels economy in South Africa, and to identify hurdles that could hinder the establishment of South Africa as a major supplier to Europe and other bulk markets.

Following from the successful workshop, the EU-SA Partnership will be hosting a study tour to Europe to demonstrate to the participants Powerfuels expertise and know-how.

Selected South African companies and relevant government policy makers will be invited to visit industrial plants, market leaders and EU officials in order to strengthen their understanding of the potential and benefits of Powerfuels. In this regard, a Research Paper was commissioned by the EU-SA Partnership to prepare for this Powerfuels study tour.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the EU-SA partnership and the WITS business school for this ground-breaking initiative. I also wish to take opportunity to thank and congratulate all the individuals and companies that will be involved in this study tour well.

As I conclude, I want to indicate that COVID-19 is likely to stay for the foreseeable future. For this reason, we should stay alert and keep our planning within the sector to accommodate the unavoidable changes brought by this pandemic.

Thank you very much for taking your time attending to webinar. I wish all a fruitful and progressive engagements throughout this session.

Let us keep on keeping safe.

Thank you

Programme Director, Dr Phil Mjwara;

International guests;

Government officials;

Scientists and researchers;

Members of the media;

Ladies and gentlemen:

In the second half of 2019, the world received the news that a virus of the corona family was causing thousands of deaths, and that its origin was unknown and that new patterns of behavior must be encouraged in order to deal with the global pandemic.

Its official name was “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),” but popularly known as “coronavirus” or “COVID-19.”

After these news, a race started in the scientific world, notably in the field of health sciences, in order to develop effective treatments and vaccines to fight it.

The new patterns of behavior, imposed by governments, consisted of social isolation, and in some cases, lockdowns.

This global pandemic caused by the coronavirus has disrupted the lives of most people on the planet. The magnitude of such disruption can only be compared to that caused by World War II, but certainly surpasses it in scope, reach and global intensity.

Experts suggest that in order to better evaluate this situation, it should be divided into two waves. The first wave being associated with health issues and the second one with economic issues.

This pandemic may in all probability foster another wave – a third wave, in which if not handled carefully, could have disastrous effect, especially if this is driven by new and as yet unknown mutations.

This virtual conference underscores the seriousness and urgency with which the South African government is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already taken more than two million lives in the world and about 48 000 in South Africa.

For the purpose of our discussion today, we will be talking about the 4IR, in the context in which citizens of the world receive information with lightning speed via new media platforms. 

While this is beneficial for communicating information to deal with COVID-19, it is also true that the same platforms are easily hijacked for fake news and misinformation purposes.

This fake news and misinformation spectre is at the heart of the urgent need for this conference to dispel the prevailing myths about vaccines.  What complicates the fight against COVID-19 is that, while people are facing the real threat of losing their lives, fake news and misinformation are causing them to be paranoid and to doubt the usefulness of vaccines and other public health interventions. 

There is a sense in which vaccines are being painted, almost ludicrously, as yet another "pandemic" that should be avoided at all costs.  Yet vaccines have been providing immunity against infectious diseases for over 200 years, in the process saving millions of lives across the globe.

Science, technology and innovation are central to the development of vaccines.  There is nothing to worry about, because the science driving the development process involves peer-reviewed research and multiple and independent levels of trials of candidate vaccines.  This is to ensure that vaccines administered to the public are safe and efficacious.

Ladies and gentlemen, Edward Jenner's innovations are well documented.  He started by using cowpox material to create immunity against smallpox.  That was more than 200 years ago.  There have been a number of vaccines since then. 

Louis Pasteur's 1885 rabies vaccine was next to make an impact in combating human disease.  This point is made to remind the public that vaccines and vaccination did not arise with the outbreak of COVID-19.  Furthermore, there is reason to believe that there will be other pandemics that will need appropriate vaccines in the future.

South Africa, through the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), has invested in infrastructure to enable world-class research in genomics, epidemiology, vaccine manufacturing and other relevant fields.  The DSI has also invested in human resources development initiatives to ensure a pipeline of knowledge workers to advance the country's scientific endeavours.

We remain grateful for these investments, and to the talent that exists in this country, that our knowledge workers and facilities have been able to contribute to the global body of knowledge on COVID-19 – including the detection of new variants of the novel coronavirus. 

My Department is funding the completion of the sequencing of 10 000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes in South Africa and Africa.  To date, the Department has spent R69,4 million on funding for COVID-19 research and innovation, covering twenty (21) projects.

As we are gathered today, there are two studies that are being supported in the area of vaccines.

The first is on the plant-based manufacturing of antibodies for COVID19.  This study aims to facilitate the rapid development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, therapeutic antibodies and diagnostic reagents by utilising various plant-based expression platforms for advancing the production of vaccine candidates and reagents against SARS-CoV-2. 

The good news is that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has entered into an agreement with Kentucky Biological Products (KBP) for the potential manufacturing of the antigen of their vaccine.  The KBP vaccine is manufactured using specific tobacco plants. 

The CSIR has the ability to expand their facility for plant-based expression systems to manufacture the antigen needed for the vaccine.  KBP has also expressed interest in testing the vaccine in South Africa.  The total DSI investment in this study is in the region of R2,4 million.

The second study, led by Wits University, relates to the ChAdOx1 nCOV-19 (commonly known as the Oxford-Astrazenica) vaccine trial.  The DSI is funding the study in partnership with the South African Medical Research Council. 

The study is aimed at assessing the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of the vaccine candidate in South African adults living without HIV, and its safety and immunogenicity in a small cohort of adults living with HIV.  This is part of an international study aimed not only at finding an effective COVID-19 vaccine, but also at understanding if the vaccine will be effective in local settings.

The ChAdOx1 nCOV-19 vaccine was developed at the Jenner Institute in Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca.  It is currently on trial in a number of countries including South Africa, Brazil, the USA, UK, Australia and Europe.  The preliminary results indicate that the vaccine reduces virus transmission based on observed reduction in asymptomatic infections.  They indicate that the vaccine is at least 62% effective when given in two full-strength doses, which is considerably lower than the 94% percent efficacy achieved by the vaccine candidates of Pfizer and Moderna.

It is of course noteworthy to mention that the Oxford vaccine is touted as the most suitable for developing countries due to its cost and relative ease of storage, which makes it easier to distribute.  The vaccine is being considered for approval by the European Medicines Agency, while approval has already been granted by regulatory authorities in the UK, India, Mexico, Bangladesh and Argentina.  The total investment in the study is R4,5 million.

We are now working towards collaboration with China, Russia and Cuba in the areas of vaccines and vaccine development.

As an African country, we recognise the fact that African people have from time immemorial gathered tremendous experience in how to deal with human diseases.  It is for this reason that the importance of African traditional medicine has been recognised at the highest level in the fight against COVID-19.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has established a committee to provide independent scientific advice and support to countries on the safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicine therapies.

It should also be noted that much of modern medicine is based on the extraction and synthesis of compounds found in nature, which is the fundamental basis of traditional medicines. We acknowledge, however, that there are still challenges in the efforts to enhance research and development of traditional medicines for COVID-19 in the continent. 

South Africa is in a position to share its experience and knowledge, as it was selected as the Chair of the WHO-AFRO Regional Expert Committee, African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

South Africa has invested considerably in African traditional medicines through its Indigenous Knowledge Systems Programme.  In providing leadership in these areas, the DSI has presided over the establishment of legislation in this regard.  We have also established an Indigenous Knowledge-Based COVID-19 Research Team, which is a consortium of healer organisations, science councils, universities, incubators and government departments.

As evidence of the ground covered in the field of indigenous knowledge (IK), the DSI is working with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) to develop frameworks for African medicine regulation, clinical trials and registration for commercialisation. 

My Department's funded research in this area includes agronomy and phytochemical studies on selected medicinal herbs to determine chemical entities capable of combating SARS viruses and other respiratory infections.  Among others, we are funding ongoing research on anti-coronavirus activities, immune modulations, synergy studies and mechanisms of action to determine pathways against cytokine storms.  We are also planning a comparative clinical trials study which will soon be submitted to SAHPRA for approval.

The DSI's collaboration with our institutions of higher learning is a highly productive one.  In this regard, the Department has supported the establishment of:

• an IK-Based Health Research Unit at the University of the Free State;
• an African Medicines Laboratory at the University of KwaZulu-Natal;
• an IK-Based Bioprospecting Facility at the University of Pretoria; and
• an IK-Based Product Development Infrastructure at the CSIR, Agricultural Research Council, Innovation Hub and South African Bureau of Standards.

The DSI has also established an IK-Based Technology Unit at the Technology Innovation Agency, and a National Indigenous Products Programme at the Industrial Development Corporation.  We have collaborators in China, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and the USA.

Ladies and gentlemen

As I conclude, allow me to return to the point about fake news and misinformation.  The current environment is fraught with all manner of conspiracy theories that often result in poor decision-making at both individual and group level. 

Among these are the 5G myths that have led to cellphone towers being destroyed in some parts of our country.  The public must be informed that the COVID-19 virus is purely biological and has no roots in any Fourth Industrial Revolution technology like 5G.  I am pleased that this conference includes a session dedicated to dealing with such conspiracy theories.

With these few words, I invite each one of you to engage in an open and critical discussion about the role of vaccination in resolving the COVID-19 pandemic.  I trust that you will, by the end of this conference, emerge with a greater understanding of the emergence of new variants of the novel coronavirus across the globe and their impact on the spread of the pandemic.

Locally and globally, lockdown restrictions have placed communities under immense stress.  The negative impact on the economy has resulted in job losses and the worsening of poverty and inequality. 

While the vulnerability and helplessness of the poor have become more pronounced, the wealthy classes have been able to cushion and insulate themselves against the worst effects of the pandemic.  I will be following with interest the discussion of these and related issues in the session on the social impact of COVID-19.

I wish you all the best in your deliberations.

Thank you.

Moderator: Ms Vinolia Chindane, from SAMDDRA;
Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Minister of Communications & Digital Technologies;
Mr Muzi Makhaye, SAMDDRA  Board Chairperson and other Board Members;
Dr Mark Mpasa, SAMDDRA Managing Director;
Mr Simphiwe Thobela, MICT SETA Chairman of the Board;
ICT SMME Chamber Board Member, Ms Joy Sebenzile;
Other Chairpersons and CEOs of our state entities;
SAMDDRA Members and Partners;
My Advisors and Ministry staff;
Officials from both my Departments of Science and Innovation and Higher Education and Training;
SAMDDRA Sponsors;
Members of the media;
Invited guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Afternoon

We gather here at an extremely difficult and challenging time in the life of our relatively young democracy. Yet, we are also at a moment in our history that holds great hope and promise.

One of my admired German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary Karl Marx’s important observation about history and its struggles is that “Men make history but under circumstances not of their own choosing,” yet this must be no reason to succumb and shy away from the task of seeking to change those very conditions in favour of the majority of our people!

This observation is particularly true when it relates to science, technology, innovation and training which is amongst the fundamental contributing factors towards economic growth in both advanced and developing economies.

But this observation is also relevant as our country and the world is making strides towards responding to the COVID-119 deadly pandemic. 

As a country we continue to  celebrate our receipt of the first
consignment, consisting of one million doses of the Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute in India. This consignment brings hope to the majority of our people, who at some stage were facing a bleak future.

Like so many people around the world, we have suffered tremendous loss and endured great sacrifices. But in all these, we remain resilient.

It indeed gives me great pleasure and honour to be joining you today as you launch the South African Mobiles Devices Distributors Repairers Associations (SAMDDRA) under the theme “ A Partnership for SMMEs Development and Growth from Manufacturing to Distribution and Usage of Electronic Communication Devices”.

This launch comes at a point in which in 2020, I launched the National List of Occupations in High Demand (OIHD) in South Africa. The list identified that 345 occupations are in high demand out of a total of 1 500 registered in our Organising Framework for Occupations. These occupations are at both high as well as intermediate skills levels.

What is more critical is that many of these occupations on the list can be associated with key areas and sectors identified as crucial for the Reconstruction and Recovery Plan such as the digital economy, energy, infrastructure development, manufacturing, tourism and agriculture, requiring data scientists, web developers, computer network technicians, electrical engineers, concentrated solar power process controllers, mechatronic technicians, toolmakers, gaming workers, crop produce analysts, agricultural scientists,  just to name a few.

It is for this reason that SAMDDRA must take keen interest on this list and skills sets, which in the majority are in the ICT sector.

In launching this list,  I called upon our universities, our TVET Colleges, our SETAs and private education and training institutions as well as other training providers to use the list to inform their selection of programme offerings, their resource allocations and enrolment planning processes as well as the identification and development of new qualifications and programmes that are more responsive to the needs of the economy and society as a whole.

It is therefore important that SAMDDRA establish a relationship with our Higher Education, Science and Innovation institutions and sector. This will ensure that SAMDDRA is in a better position to support its prospective membership to get practical skills, training, certification and accreditation of companies and SMMEs as outlined in its founding mission.

This intervention will ensure that SAMDDRA participates in the realisation of the  call by the Cabinet during the Cabinet Lekgotla which was held last week which emphasised the need to enrol young people in a massively expanded range of skills development initiatives directly linked to the national Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

With the level of youth unemployment, as reported in the third quarter of 2020, standing at 61.3%, for the cohort of ages between 15 and 24 years old, and for those not in employment, education and/or training standing at 3.2 million, SAMDDRA can play an important role in the realisation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan as espoused by the President.


Ladies and gentlemen

The South African National Development Plan (“the NDP) outlines Government’s commitment to building a more inclusive society in order to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality in the country by 2030.

It sets out specific steps and targets to achieve an inclusive and prosperous society where opportunity is determined not by birth but by ability, education and hard work.

As government, we believe that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) plays a key role in facilitating all the objectives of the NDP and those of our National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper, which further sets out how government will realise this potential.

Furthermore, in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its disruption effects, my department of science and innovation has developed a new policy framework for science and technology which is contained in the new White Paper on Science and Technology and Innovation.

To realise the objectives of the new White Paper, we are in the final stages of developing a Decadal Plan on STI, which will serve as an initial ten-year implementation plan towards the year 2030.

As a department we continue to work with our counterparts in all our spheres of government to achieve maximum convergence of all technologies - such as computing and information technology, telecommunications technology, audio and audio-visual content, the Internet of Things and more traditional means for communication such as postal deliveries - as we further gravitate towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution(4IR).

As you may know, the 4IR will be driven largely by the convergence of digital, biological, and physical innovations. As a department we committed ourselves to position science and technology as a catalyst towards faster economic growth, both in the immediate term and over the next 10 years.

We are also committed to broaden the participation and mainstream gender, youth, and people living with disabilities in science, technology, innovation and in training.

It is for this reason that I remain grateful for President Ramaphosa’s visionary leadership for realigning the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Department of Science and Innovation under a single Ministry.

The core reason is not simply to ensure greater administrative efficiency or bureaucratic streamlining, but to drive the post-school knowledge and skills development imperative more decisively, more effectively and with greater transformational impact in society.

It therefore becomes critical that SAMDDRA should always maintain close relations with our Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), which are currently undergoing a “due diligence”, project which are looking at redirecting surplus resources to support COVID-19 interventions.

This is a very important project originating from the call made by the President to harness government efforts in order to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 to the economy.

Currently, as a country our economy is not growing at a rate that  stimulates rapid job creation. We have reduced fiscal revenue, higher borrowing costs as a result of the country’s credit risk.

Furthermore, we have had to redirect most of government spending to deal with COVID-19 challenges.

All these further exacerbate an already difficult economic period for the country, which makes the SETAs role in the revival of the economy all the more important. 

This is the reason I am emphasising continuous collaboration between yourselves and the SETAs, particularly, the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA), which is a skills development institution established in terms of the Skills Development Act of 1998 to generate, facilitate and accelerate the processes of quality skills development at all levels in the MICT sector in South Africa.

Furthermore, government welcomes the relief announced on the 8th  December 2020 by the Statistician-General on the results of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the third quarter of 2020, revealing that the South African economy grew by an annualised rate of 66.1% in the third quarter – or 13.5% quarter on quarter.

This announcement brings with it the necessary hope and relief that will assist us to invest more resources in training and job creation initiatives. This therefore makes this launch not only strategic but critical.

SAMDDRA must also look at how it can support our initiative of providing laptops to our students both at our universities and colleges. Through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) we will be supplying approximately 69% of students with these devices and SAMDDRA could support students and universities by providing maintenance and parts services. It will be critical that SAMDDRA establish working relations service providers approved by the NSFAS to supply these devices.

This opportunity will add into existing opportunities available in the South African mobile device industry of which in terms of the StatsSA, 2019 RSA Population estimates of 58 Million in 2019: 1.5 Mobile Devices average ownership was recorded. According to the report most Internet access happens through Cellphones, which make up over 80% of Internet Traffic. (Statista.com, 2020)

According to Statista.com, 2020, there are 103.5 million mobile connections that happened in SA in January 2020, which is  178% of the total population.

This information further confirms that there are lots of opportunities for SAMDDRA and its partners in this market segment.

We have further introduced the concept of a National System of Innovation (NSI), which is our approach in managing our Science, Technology and Innovation. 

It makes provision for a policy framework that seeks to harness the latent and explicit innovation capabilities of whole-of-government and whole-of-society in addressing the national development challenges of our nation.

We are paying attention, in particular, to expand our NSI to include a vibrant social and community-based innovation system that can draw on the creative potential of all our people.

I would like to persuade SAMDDRA to be also seek relations with the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) programme and the Data Science for Impact and Decision Enhancement (DSIDE) programme for capacity building.  These are projects that we are funding as a department of science and technology to harness technological convergence and drive the advancement of the South African economy in response to the 4IR.  

I will also be important that SAMDDRA establish relations with our 14 centres of excellence hosted by various public universities. These  are all centres that my departments continue to support and fund.

These centres have concentrated expertise and resources of researchers to collaborate across disciplines on long-term projects that are locally relevant and internationally competitive.

In this context, it is crucial that we ensure that the nation’s future science, technology and innovation paradigm is intimately connected with the principles of promoting public good, equality and inclusion.

This is the reason that our White Paper on Science and Innovation emphasise that digitisation remains an important component of our strategies moving forward.

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and data analytics are all very central in our White Paper. As a matter of fact, I would like to position our Department of Science and Innovation to play a leading role in data analytics, especially within government, but also interacting with other sectors of South African society.

This is the reason we are also excited about the fact that sections of our higher education institutions are taking forward research and teaching on data analytics as exemplified by the recently launched School of data engineering and computation by Stellenbosch university. However, we need to see data analytical capabilities built across the entire higher education system and all parts of the data value chain.

In this regard, we are also looking forward for more of our institutions to offer such studies, particularly given the importance of data analytics to inform decision making.

In 2018, we established the Medical Devices and Diagnostic Technology Innovation Cluster to exploit the country's high concentration of skills, expertise and infrastructure in the field of medical devices and diagnostics. 

The initiative is aimed at stimulating and intensifying technology innovation within the sector as well as creating an enabling environment for increased competitiveness. It might be worthwhile for SAMDDRA to consider expanding its scope to include this part of  ICTs.

Our White Paper on STI also commits us to the creation of an Innovation Fund. This is indeed very important given the huge challenge we have to double our investment into research, development and innovation, from the current, and clearly inadequate, level of 0,8 percent as a percentage of our GDP, to at least 1,5 percent by 2030.

I remain firmly committed to forging a dynamic relationship between both my departments and the private sector companies, both generally and in specific sectors such as your Electronic Communication Devices Distribution and Repairs industry.

We have put in place a range of interventions to enhance the technological capabilities of firms and companies with a major focus on SMEs. We will continue to fund these interventions and, where possible, facilitate their expansion.

We are also working with the Department of Small Business Development and National Treasury, to finalise the mandate and funding mechanisms of the Small Business and Innovation Fund. 

The fund is designed to largely de-risk the early stages of technology commercialisation and/or business development for SMEs. 

An injection of R1 billion per year for five years  is expected to injected in order to make a significant impact in making these businesses more attractive to investors for significant scale-up.

We will also scale up our Grassroots Innovation Programme (GIP) which is aimed at transforming and ensuring the equitable access to the science, technology and innovation infrastructure for all innovators, particularly the previously marginalised innovators in townships and in rural areas.

All these opportunities are available to SAMDDRA and its membership.

In conclusion

I would like to indicate that on Friday, the 29th January 2021, I presented two important strategies of my departments to the Cabinet Lekgotla (the Innovation Strategy and the Skills Strategy) which were warmly welcomed by the meeting.

We will be making these strategies public soon. You therefore might need to familiarise yourself with both these strategies so that you locate the opportunities that might apply to your sector.

Of course, we also need your support in the implementation of these strategies as part of our Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan interventions.

It is important that all you understand the opportunities presented by the new Higher Education Science and Innovation (HESI) landscape and its potential to tackle the triple structural challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. 

What this will also mean is that if our economy is to recover after Covid- 19 and its lockdowns, as well as grow and develop in the current and future contexts new innovation led industries will have to emerge, and bringing with it, new skills requirements.

Lastly, it is up to us not to let down our guard and to prevent a third wave of covid-19 infections.

It is up to us to protect ourselves, our families and our communities. Let us all keep on keeping safe.

I thank you