Image: Linda Nordling for Research Professional News
Lack of funding is “wearing down” South Africa’s science and innovation department
Budget cuts over the past five years have been a “plague” on South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation, a meeting has heard.
At the meeting at iThemba Labs near Cape Town on 13 March, the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation presented its legacy report for the country’s sixth parliament, which will be dissolved before the general election in May.
The report states: “The lack of adequate funding, as well as persistent budget cuts and the need to reprioritise existing budgets, continued to plague the department and its entities in the sixth administration.”
Committee chair Nompendulo Mkhatshwa (pictured) said she had thought twice before describing the funding shortages as a “plague” on the department.
“When I wrote the word ‘plague’, I wondered: is this a bit harsh?” Mkhatshwa told an audience that included chairs and chief executives of science councils, as well as senior department officials.
“But I do get the sense that it wears down the department. If we had stability, we would be able to do much more,” she said.
Stagnant spending
Last month, South Africa’s Treasury cut the budget of the Department of Science and Innovation by 3 billion rand (US$161 million) over the next three years as part of efforts to rein in public spending.
Research Professional News revealed last week that the cuts mean the National Research Foundation, South Africa’s chief science funder, will award about 1,000 fewer grants in 2024-25 than in the previous year.
Before the 2024-25 budget, Mkhatshwa’s committee had pleaded with the Treasury for science and innovation to be spared. But in a written report published alongside the budget, finance minister Enoch Godongwana said that serious fiscal constraints had made cuts “unavoidable”. He urged the department to reprioritise existing funds.
The parliamentary committee wants securing more funding for science and innovation to be a priority for the country’s next administration, as well as for future committee members.