But science official says the Western Cape’s success is not costing Gauteng—yet
The proportion of South African R&D funding spent in the country’s capital region has shrunk in the past decade, while the Western Cape’s share has grown. But a government official says the shift is not at Gauteng’s expense so far.
In 2012-13 Gauteng—the province incorporating South Africa’s economic hub Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria—accounted for 44.4 per cent of the country’s total R&D spend. But by 2021-22 it had shrunk to 41.1 per cent, according to data published this month.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape, which incorporates Cape Town and Stellenbosch, saw its share grow from 19.1 per cent in 2012-13 to 26.6 per cent in 2021-22.
The Department for Science and Innovation’s deputy director-general for socioeconomic innovation partnerships, Mmboneni Muofhe, told Research Professional News it was “too early” to speak about the shift between the two provinces, which together account for over two-thirds of the country’s spending on R&D.
Rather, he said, what the department is looking for is signs of regression, which he says is not being seen in either location. Gauteng saw a nominal R&D spending increase in 2021-22, he said—same as the Western Cape. The big driver in both provinces was in business R&D expenditure.
Science ‘semigration’?
Still, the provincial spending numbers play into a hot topic in South Africa: the impression that skilled workers and companies are moving from Gauteng to the Western Cape.
The reason often cited is that service delivery is better in the latter. For instance, the City of Cape Town operates a schedule of grid-saving rolling blackouts, known as loadshedding, that is less severe than the national schedule, thanks to mitigation strategies implemented by the city.
Muofhe said there are recent examples of big companies, such as Amazon, making big investments in the Western Cape. However, he says, this is not necessarily a sign that Gauteng is becoming less favourable, but rather that the Western Cape is becoming more competitive.
Another factor, Muofhe noted, is the strength of the Western Cape’s bio-innovation sector. This is anchored around the province’s universities, as well as the Medical Research Council, which has its headquarters in the city, as do several biotech companies.
This attracts investors, Muofhe said. For instance, Afrigen, a Cape Town-based biologics company, was recently chosen to host a new World Health Organization-backed mRNA technology transfer hub facility.
His department continually observes these trends to gauge what conditions lead to investments. “Which province is ahead of the other is not an issue. All we need to do is learn what the key success factors are to improve the system overall,” he said.