OVERVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES AND PERFORMANCE OF CGS DURING THE 2002/3 FINANCIAL YEAR.
Mr Chairman and Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee let me start by thanking you for the invitation to appear before you today and for the opportunity to present a report on our activities for the past year. I want to stress that we at CGS really value these interactions for a number of reasons, but particularly so, because it enables us to place our research results before you as the political representatives of this nation and through this we hope to foster public access to our research results. Ultimately we carry out our systematic geological research so that all citizens of our Nation can have access to and use these results for social and economic benefits. This in fact is why we exist and why Parliament funds scientific research. We also use this opportunity to get an understanding of the social and economic concerns of the peoples of South Africa and this helps us to target our programmes to address these concerns.
Most development economists, Mr Chairman would agree that the existence of a resource base, a vibrant market, capital and access to science and technology are the key pre-requisites for the industrialisation of any Nation. Through the various research programmes which we have undertaken during the year, using the funding which Parliament apportions to us, we specifically target these industrialisation pre-requisites in various direct and indirect ways, specifically with respect to the natural resources sector of our national economy. During the past year we have also significantly expanded our interventions into a number of socio-economic challenges which face the nation, notably in rural groundwater supply, environmentally induced health problems, low cost housing and severe environmental degradation.
During the past year the Mining Industry World-wide and also in South Africa has remained in a dormant phase, and very little exploration has taken place globally and also domestically. Towards the end of the year, this situation has shown promising signs of improvement. It appears that the consolidation phase, characterised by mergers and acquisitions, is nearing its end, and that the global restructuring and the clarification of roles between major and minor companies is nearing finality.
Platinum and diamonds have remained the global exploration priorities, and has soaked up most exploration dollars in the year, but currently a renewed interest in ferrous and base metals appears to be developing in a number of countries.
In South Africa the promulgation of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, has progressed rapidly and towards the latter half of the year full implementation will have been achieved. The implementation of the Act could have a number of positive business impacts on the CGS, but it will also require the Council to perform some new functions which have not been done before. Preparations to underpin the Act with scientific support is well developed.
A start has been made in the past year to delimit the South African claim for its continental shelf. This will continue to have an enormous impact on the research activities of CGS and tax our limited scientific resources considerably. As you know this task must be completed before 2009 in order to ensure that South Africa can submit its claim to the Commission of the Law of the Sea and hopefully expand our interests in our land-mass considerably. I would be negligent not to recognise the enormous role which the Minister has played in "fast tracking" this project, and I want to place on record our appreciation for her far-sightedness in this regard.
A project carried out in partnership with the Department of Minerals and Energy to address the mitigation of the severe impacts of the legacy of 100 years of Mining on our groundwater resources was also launched in the past financial year. This multi-year project would require a considerable degree of innovation and perseverance to finally solve the problem, but the importance of solving this problem for future generations of South Africans will inspire us to be innovative in attacking the problem.
During the past year the turnover of the Council for Geoscience with respect to its commercial work has increased by close on 30% and the profits increased by some 20%. From a purely commercial point of view this has been by far the most successful year in the history of the Council.
As a consequence of some five consecutive good years, the reserves of the Council for Geoscience have now increased sufficiently and hence has now opened the opportunity for the Council to accelerate its investment program into new physical and research infrastructure. I would like to remind the members of the House that CGS, unlike other Science councils, had to buy much of its own property.
Over the reporting period concerned the Council has acquired its own office building in Upington. This office serves as the centre from which all the mapping in the Northern Cape Province is carried out. In addition, the Council has also bought the farm Magdalena’s Rust in the Boshoff District where the new infra-sound Observatory will be developed during the present financial year. This Observatory forms a part of an international network in terms of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty’s monitoring of upper atmospheric nuclear explosions programme.
The Council also completed the second construction phase for its National Borehole Repository during the past year. During the next financial year the construction will start on the Geochemical Sample Repository at Donkerhoek.
Besides having completed the above acquisitions and construction to improve and establish a physical infrastructure, investments of close on four million were made in new research equipment. This included geophysical, marine, seismological and analytical research equipment. In this regards we would like to thank Minister Ben Ngubane and Dr Rob Adam of DST for their unfailing support and for a very generous grant towards capital replacement.
During the past financial year a six person strong International Review Panel carried out an in depths review of the CGS and all its activities. The Review Panel included a number of world class experts from the US, France, South Africa, Morocco and Mozambique. The Panel met with a wide range of CGS stakeholders. In the final report the Panel concluded that the CGS is still a world class Geological Survey, but it cautions that the Council should make bigger investments into its ageing research infrastructure and into basic scientific research in order to develop more world class researchers. I would specifically like to thank the members of the Portfolio Committee for DST and DME who sacrificed a Sunday morning in order to speak to the Review Panel. This level of commitment and support is greatly appreciated by us.
The output of new maps and publications has remained very high during the past year and some 10 new maps, 9 new publications on 51 New Open file reports were completed. The Review Panel specifically commented on the output and the quality of our maps and publications and described it a "truly remarkable".
Mr Chairman,
In concluding my overview I would like to inform the Portfolio Committee that the present CEO of CGS, Dr Frick, will be retiring at the end of October this year, and that the Board in consultation with the Minister started the process timeously to identify a successor and ensure a stable stewardship for CGS. It thus gives me pleasure to inform you that Mr Thibedi Ramontja has been appointed as the CEO designate, and that he will assume his duties on the 1st of November 2003.
In this regards too. Mr Chairman, I would wish to draw your attention to the fact that the current term of office of the present Board will also expire on the 27th of September. On behalf of myself, the Board, the Management and the staff of CGS, I would like to thank you for a period of three years during which we were able to build together for a better nation.
Once again, Mr Chairman, I would like the Committee to know that we at CGS are thankful for the support we have always had from the Committee, the efforts that you have made to speak to our Review Panel, and the opportunity you afforded us to address you.
Thank you very much
CHAIRMAN