I

REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY :ANNUAL REPORT 2002/2003


The Portfolio Committee on Arts, Culture, Science and Technology having considered the Annual Report 2002/2003 of the Department of Science and Technology reports as follows.

The report covers the period April 2002 to March 2003. The splitting of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology into two separate departments of Arts and Culture (DAC) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) each with its own Director General but under the same Ministry, was a key development in 2002.

The Cabinet accepted the National Research and Development Strategy in July 2002 and the creation of DST on 1 August 2002. This was a clear indication that Government accepted that science and technology is essential to the competitiveness of the South African economy and to the economic transformation of the lives of all South Africans. The strategy forms the basis for the further development of the National System of Innovation, and seeks to ensure major intervention and a wide range of implementation activities in science and technology development. It was premised on the doubling of government investment in science and technology over the next three years. Government accepted the doubling of investment in R&D over the next six years and thereafter more gradual increments to decrease the gap between South African per capita expenditure on R&D and that of more developed economies.
This point of lengthening the period of doubling Government expenditure from three to six years is not made in the annual report but was reported to the Portfolio Committee by
DST.

DST operated with an interim financial structure until 30 September 2002. On the 1st October 2002, in line with the adjustment estimates, a new financial structure was brought into being, to finance the DST for the remainder of the financial year. With the beginning of the new financial year new management structures were created.

The Programmes of the DST

DST provides strategic direction to its key policy framework, the National System of Innovation through the following five programmes, each of which is divided into two subprogrammes.

· Administration with subprogrammes Human Resource Management and Communication.
· Technology for Development with subprogrammes Technology Transfer and Poverty Alleviation.
· International Cooperation and Resources with subprogrammes International Cooperation and International Resources.
· Government Science and Technology System with subprogrammes System Investment and Governance, and Finance.
· Science and Technology Competitiveness with subprogrammes Technology Missions, and Human Capital and Science Platform.

Administration

Some of the main activities of the subprogrammes are given below.

Human Resource Management
The department says it strives to develop a leading organisation and hence endeavours to optimise the return on its human capital. It says it has made significant progress in
· Building organisational capabilities
· Creating strategic unity
· Creating a healthy working environment.
An employee assistance programme was implemented as a mechanism towards the well-being of all employees, communicating that the cornerstone of the progress is the management of HIV/AIDS.

In the annexure Human Resource Reporting details are given of salaries, overtime, homeowners allowances and medical assistance by programme, by salary bands; employment and vacancies by programme as well as salary bands. There is also a table of employment equity. The percentage vacancies in the programme Administration is 54.29%, in Knowledge Systems 60.22%, in Government S&T System 34.78%, innovation Enhancement 77.61% with an overall vacancy of 59.44%. These are rather high vacancy rates and may be a reflection of a new department overstretched and building a personnel base, but no explanation for this was found. There is a similar table for vacancies for the various salary bands. Both the lower skilled level and the Senior Management show a vacancy rate of 66.67%. An explanation for this should have been provided, as it is not likely that the reason for both these categories is the same. However Annual Turnover rates are low probably showing job satisfaction. There is a table showing Employment Equity, but nothing to compare with for previous years. A table showing how demographics have changed with respect to previous years would have been useful even if the comparison had been with DACST.

Communication Unit

This subprogramme works in line with Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). It aims to communicate, promote and publicise S&T portfolio to accelerate South African economic growth, and hence to improve the quality of life of its people. Some of the projects are

· Announcement of the launch of the Coelacanth Programme in KZN.

· Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) meeting.

African Caribbean Pacific & European Union Conference, Cape Town. Solar Eclipse, Limpopo Province.


Technology for Development

While Government approved the Research and Development Strategy it expressed the view that transfer of technology to SMMEs was not taking place at the required rate.

Technology Transfer
Cabinet mandated the DST in January 2003 to produce a National Technology Transfer Strategy to strengthen existing initiatives with proven track records. This Strategy was to be finalised in August 2003 and presented to Cabinet for its approval. This Transfer Strategy was presented to the National Science and Technology Forum earlier this year. The Annual Report 2000/2003 also looks at the Godisa and Tshumisano programmes in some detail.

Godisa is a development programme through which inventors are assisted to optimize technology and thereby improve their competitive products and services. The Godisa Programme helps SMMEs to develop skills, knowledge and markets. Godisa has various centers. These centers focus amongst other projects on biotechnology, life sciences, medical devices7 software, chemicals and small scale mines. The Zenzele Technology Demonstration Centre, in Johannesburg, Voxel Innovation Support Centre, in Durban, and the Softstart Software Incubator Centre, in Pretoria, are fully operational. The incubators currently have over 25 tenants. In Softstart alone there are ten black software development entrepreneurs. ~ addition to DST support, the Godisa programme also receives support from the Department of Trade and Industry and the European Union.

Thumisano Technology Stations Trust is a partnership programme between DST, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation and the South African Committee of Technikon Principles (CTP). It aims to address the technology needs of SMMEs in the field of electronics and electrical engineering, metals value addition, product development and rapid prototyping, chemicals, automotive components, textiles and clothing and so on. Innovative small businesses have benefited from the technology transfer.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) also received the attention of the subprogramme on Technology Transfer. DST and various institutions have been battling with the complex task of the States role in protecting the rights and status of the holders of such knowledge and ensuring that these communities receive the appropriate recognition and returns generated from the products developed from their knowledge.

Poverty Alleviation

The report states that as part of its commitment to fighting poverty, DST has established a Poverty Relief Programme that focuses on agro-processing, with a view to achieving a sustainable reduction of poverty in rural and pen-rural areas. DST has invested R48million in technology transfer to communities, with a view to setting up small- and micro-sized enterprises where skills and technology transfer has taken place. The programmes have been directed mainly to women, the disabled and the youth.

Programmes included amongst others on plant fibre processing, animal fibre processing, leather tanning, extraction of essential oils, seed orchards, yoghurt making, Beekeeping. The implementation agent for these projects is the CSIR. which has established projects at ten different locations. Various other projects have also been established.

International Cooperation and Resources

The objects, aims and achievements of the subprogrammes are not separately detailed. It would have been of interest to see these for the subprogrammes. We therefore give these under headings given.

Bilateral Relations

The report says DST manages 33 signed international agreements and invests R13 million per year in 177 research and development projects to facilitate the interaction between South African scientists and scientists in international partner institutions.

Notable achievements are: For the financial year 2002/2003 a Foot and Mouth Disease project with the United Kingdom; The South African- Norway Programme for Research Cooperation in which Norway will spend R35 million and the Department R5 million; In the South African Development Community the Department supports the High Energy Stereoscopic (HESS) Project in Namibia; in support of the National R&D Strategy a number of workshops and seminars have been held with international scientists.

Multilateral Relations

The report says that South Africa strengthened significantly its partnership with the EU. South African researchers prepared for participation in the EUs Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), through initiatives taken by DST. The FP6 Conference is Europe's premier scientific gathering to decide on research initiatives. Minister Ngubane was invited to address the gathering in Brussels in November 2002. The FP6 has a dedicated budget of R4.8 billion to support the participation of priority partners, such as South Africa, in its activities. It is reported that several South African research groups are members of European consortia, which have submitted project proposals to the first round of FP6 calls for research proposals.

In July 2002 South Africa hosted the first Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) European Union Forum on Research for Sustainable Development. This aimed to harness science and technology as an instrument for development..

South Africa continued to play an active part as an observer in the activities of the OECD Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy throughout 2002. These benefited significantly South Africa's national science and technology policy formulation and particularly in the domain of intellectual property rights.

African-Union

South Africa through its participation in the Inter-Departmental Substance Committee of the AU has been instrumental in placing science and technology at the top of the agenda of the AU as a vehicle for continental socio-economic development.

In May 2002 DST hosted the second SADC Workshop for Policy Development for Heads of Science and Technology. DST also initiated the establishment of a National Working Group on Science and Technology for NEPAD, and in February 2003 the Department hosted a workshop on "Developing a Science and Technology Framework for NEPAD". These are some of the many activities undertaken by DST.

World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)

At the request of the WSSD the Department presented the Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development as one of the main parallel events of the WSSD. Several scientific international partners of DST collaborated closely with the Department in the organisation of the Forum. The Forum organised high level discussions on the role of science and technology as instruments for sustainable development in Africa. The Political Declaration adopted by the Heads of State and Government, on the role of science and technology as a critical enabling tool for sustainable development. Science and technology also featured prominently in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted at the Summit and formed part of several partnership initiatives in areas such as water, sanitation, energy and health.


Government Science And Technology System

This programme is also not described in terms of what happens in the subprogrammes. A description is then also given in terms of the headlines under which the programme is described.

Institutional Performance

This describes the Acts or the Boards and Councils of the following institutions the Africa Institute of South Africa, The South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions, the National Research Foundation, The Foundation for Education, Science and Technology. These organizations present their Annual Reports to Parliament arid so relevant details will be given in our oversight of these.

A workshop was held for the Science Councils on the Key Performance framework. A process was set in place for the transfer of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) from DTI to DST. This is inline with the institutional alignment arrangements outlined in the National R&D Strategy.

The Science Vote

The Report states "The Science Vote, which provides support to the National System of Innovation by funding the Science Councils and the national R&D programmes, was R1.7 billion in the year under review." This however does not tell us the total funding of the Science Councils. The document then lists the key public institutions, which receives public funding. These bodies presents an Annual Report to Parliament and these are then reviewed. Hence no details of these will be presented here.

There is also a short report on the South African Aids Vaccine Initiative. This is a project of the Medical Research Council and a comprehensive report is given in its annual report. For this reason no comment is made on this.


Science and Technology for Competitiveness

In this programme reporting is not done under the subprogrammes and hence comment here will be under the various headings.

Building with BRICS

This highlights that the National Biotechnology Strategy, approved by Cabinet in 2C01, is part of the National R&D Strategy. Three Biotechnology Regional Innovation Centres (BRICS) were established in 2003. These are
· BioPad in Gauteng, which focuses on animal health, industry and the environment;
· Ecobio in KwaZulu/Natal, which focuses on human health, bio-processing, with an emphasis on plant biotechnology;
· Cape Biotech, which also focuses on human health and bioprocessing.
These centers try to produce commercial products, processes and services in accordance with the innovation strategy to produce niche products to make South Africa more competitive in the global market.

Open Source Initiative

Following the NACI report Open Software an Open Standards in 2002 DST chaired an Open Software Workshop under the auspices of the Government Information Technology Officers Council (GITOC). This culminated in an Open Source Strategy for Government, which was approved by Cabinet in 2003.

In 2002 the Department funded the establishment of a Linux network of computer.'; at the University of Cape Town's Physics Department. The network formed part of a Large Ion collider Experiment (ALICE) that is being conducted at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. Over a 1000 scientists from 28 countries are participating in this experiment. The computers will analyse a vast amount of data that will be generated by
ALICE.
The Department funded the Digital Doorway computer project in the Eastern Cape that will give the local community access to various computer skills and information.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology

During 2002 NACI mandated the CSIR to develop an Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS). NACI has adopted the strategy, which aims support growth and competitiveness of the South Africa manufacturing sector through the advancement of technological innovation. This will support higher levels of human resource development and to increase the value of exports.

Innovation Fund

The Innovation Fund has been restructured into various funding initiatives that ensure a relatively smooth passage from research and development, to prototype, and entry into the market. The projects funded by the Innovation Fund have led to the creation or new business and new products and services in the market place. It was envisaged in the white paper that niche products would be developed so as to make the South African economy more competitive. No particular products have been cited.

Technology Platforms
During 2002 the Innovation Fund introduced incentives to the business and industrial sectors for the development and utilisation of new improved technology that benefit entire industrial sectors and ultimately the whole country. Industry participates and guides the research agenda, targeting commercially viable technologies where technological barriers need to be overcome.

Science Platforms

The South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) was transferred to DST. New funding has been secured to strengthen and give strategic direction to Antarctic research, which focuses on marine resources, global climate change, space weather and human physiology under extreme conditions.

Minister Ngubane officially launched the South African Conservation and Genome Resource Programme in April 2002. This research is done in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, which provided the services of their research submersible, Jogo.

Human Capital
The Foundation for Education, Science and Technology (FEST), now resorts under the NRF umbrella, and was renamed South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA). As part of the NRF it will be in its role of developing Public Understanding of Science and Technology and showcase the activities of the National Facilities,
DST provided financial support and other assistance to the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). The institute has been established under the auspices of the Universities of Cambridge, Cape Town, Stellenbosch and the Western Cape and will be officially be opened in September 2003. It aims to recruit top class mathematics and science students from across Africa for a one-year post-graduate Diploma in the Mathematical Sciences.

Science, Gender and Disability

The South African Reference Group (SARG) on Women in Science and Technology was launched in March 2003. The first objective of SARG is to unlock the potential of South African women to develop into distinguished scientists and thereby stimulate women's interest in science and technology. The second objective is to mainstream gender in all research and development planning.

At the first meeting of SARG four key areas were selected as targets: Human Resource Development; Gender Specific Research; Gender Mainstreaming of Research Agendas; Monitoring and Evaluation.

DST commissioned a study to inform government and SARG about the status of women in the Science Councils and the higher education institutions in South Africa.
Science and Youth

Several months before the total solar eclipse over Southern Africa the Department launched a major campaign on all the issues surrounding the eclipse and particularly directed at the youth to stimulate their interest in science and technology. These efforts were also made to stimulate interest in mathematics and science as school subjects.

Amongst others the Shuttleworth Foundation participated in this programme. allocate,] R4.7million to science centers in four provinces.

Councils funded by DST,

There is a one-page information on each of the following:
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC),
The National Laser Centre (NLC),
The Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA),
The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
They submit annual reports to Parliament and hence no further comment will be made.

The Auditor Generals Report

This section quotes verbatim from the Auditor Generals Report For the four months period ending 31 July 2002.

The Audit Opinion

In my opinion, the financial statements fairly present, in all material resects, the financial position of the former Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology at 31 July 2002 and the results of its operations and cash flows for the period then ended in accordance with prescribed accounting practice.

The following matters should be noted:

· There was no inventory of assets that should have been transferred from the old department to the new departments and so this could not be confirmed.

· The State Theatre and Performing Arts Council of the Free State incurred certain losses as a result of a high-risk investment. The Special Investigation Unit finalised its investigation and made certain recommendations to the Public Protector.

· The unauthorised expenditure of R112 960, by a previous Deputy Minister had not been authorised by Parliament. The State Attorney expressed the view that the department benefited from this expenditure and recommended that no further action be taken. The department requested the view of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to clear this amount from the department's accounts. No response had been received.

· A warrant voucher to the amount of R1 759 000 was lost during April 999 in transit at a bank. The micro number and date were changed. The voucher was subsequently fraudulently negotiated. The Auditor-General states that at the time of compiling this report the matter was still unresolved.
· Due to the separation of the department no internal reports were available will the result that the Auditor-General could not place reliance on the work of the internal audit.

Financial Statements

The Financial Statements are simply listed and others will be reviewed in the Budget Debates.

· Appropriation Statement for the 4 months period ending 3lJuly 2002.
· Vote 14: Management Report for the period ended 31 July 2003.
· Income Statement (Statement of Financial Performance) for the 4-month period ended 31 July 2002.
· Balance Sheet (Statement of Financial Position) for the 4-month period ended 31 July 2002.
· Cash Flow Statement. Statement of Changes in Net Assets/Equity.
· Statement of Accounting Policies and related matters for the 4-month period ended 31 July 2003.
· Notes to the Annual Financial Statements for the 4 month period ended 31 July 2002.
· Disclosure Notes to the Annual Financial Statement for the 4 month period ended 31 July 2002.
· Annexure 1A. Statement of Transfers to Public Entities and Institutions as at 31 July 2002.
· Annexure lB. Statement of other Transfers by National Departments as at 31 July 2002.
· Annexure 3: Statement of Financial Guarantees Issued as at 3lJuly 2002.
Annexure 4: Physical Asset Movement Schedule (Not including inventories)

Auditor General's Report
This section also quotes verbatim from the Auditor General's Report.
Report of the Auditor-General to Parliament on the Financial Statements of Vote 35
Department of Science and Technology for the Period 1 August 2002-31 March 2003

Audit Opinion
In my opinion, the financial statements fairly present, in all material respects, the financial position of the Department of Science and Technology at 3 March 2003 and the results of its operations and cash flows for the eight month period then ended, in accordance with prescribed accounting practice.

Emphasis of Matter
Assets
Section 42 of the Public Finance Management Act (Act No1 of 1999) requires that when assets are transferred between departments, an inventory needs to be prepared and on transfer both the transferring and receiving accounting officer must sign the inventory.

The former Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology transferred assets to the new Department of Science and Technology. Such an inventory was not forwarded to this office within l4 days as required by section 42(3) of the Public Finance Management Act, neither could it be submitted on request.

The Department did not perform a stock take before 31 March 2003 and;
Inventory on hand at year end was not disclosed in the notes to the financial statements, as required by Section P.1 of the Preparation Guide, issued by National Treasury.

Internal Audit

A risk assessment was performed and an internal audit plan approved for the former Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST). It was agreed that Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology's internal audit component will remain responsible as internal auditors for the Department of Science and Technology, until 3l March 2003.

Internal audit was not effective during the period under review as no internal audit work was performed at the Department of Science and Technology for the period 1 August 2002 31 March 2003.

Further Financial Statements

· Audit Committee's Report.
· Appropriation Statement for the 8 month period ended 31 March 2003.
· Vote 35: Management Report for the 8 month period ended 31 March 2003. Income Statement for the 8 month period ended 31 March 2003.
· Balance Sheet (Statement of Financial Position) as at 31 March 2003.
· Cash Flow Statement: Statement of Changes in Net Assets/Equity for the period ended 31 March 2003.
· Statement of Accounting Policies and Related matters for the 8 month period ended 31 March 2003.
· Notes to the Annual Financial Statements for the period ended 31 March
2003.
· Disclosure Notes To The Annual Financial Statements for the 8 month period ended 31 March 2003.
· Annexure 1A: Statement of Transfers to Public Entities and Institutions as at 31 March 2003.
· Annexure 1B: Statement of other Transfers by National/Provincial Departments for the Eight Months Ended 31 March 2003.
· Annexure 3: Statement of Financial Guarantees Issued as at 31 March 2003.
· Annexure 4: Physical Asset Movement Schedule (not including inventories)

The Portfolio Committee on Arts Culture, Science and Technology having considered The Department of Science and Technology Annual Report 2002/2003 recommend the acceptance thereof noting the concerns expressed.


The minutes of the Portfolio Committee on Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, meeting, held Room PS 1, 120 Plein Street, on 17 February
2004, at 11hOO.

Agenda:
1. Consolidation of Study Tour Reports;

2. Briefing by the Director-General on new developments in the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Science and Technology; and

3. Adoption of Minutes.

Present

African National Congress (ANC):

Ms M A A Njobe (Chairperson)
Mr. S L Dithebe
Prof I J Momamed
Ms H M Mpaka
Mrs. T J Tshivhase
Mr. D M Kgware (NCOP)

Democratic Alliance (DA):

Mr. S E Opperman

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP):


New National Party (NNP):

Mrs. A Van Wyk
United Democratic Movement (UDM):

United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP):

Ms M A Seeco

Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC):

Others: Mr. M F Cassim (MP)

Apologies: Mr. N Ngcobo

The Chair welcomed Members and guests including officials from the Deportment of Science and Technology: Mr Dan Moagi, Mr. Daan Du Toit:
Manager: Strategic Partnership and Ms Anati Canca.
The Chair raised the difficulty the delegations to the Provincial study tours had in meeting to try and have the two reports consolidated. The Committee mandated the Chair to proceed and consolidate the reports if no inputs are received from delegation members by Friday, 20 February 2004. The consolidated report will then be distributed to the Committee for adoption at the next meeting.
Mr. Moagi apologised for the absence of the Director-General, Dr Rob Adams, who received a last minute invitation to accompany the former Minister, Dr Ben Ngubane, to Paris, France. The Minister was recently appointed South African Ambassador to that country. The appointment caught everyone by surprise, including the Minister.
Mr. Du Toit took the Committee through the presentation on South Africa's hosting of the third meeting of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO-3).
Some of the comments he made included the following:
· The meeting will take place in Cape Town from 23 to 27 February 2004.
· South Africa was elected as one of the Co-Chairs of GEO. The Cabinet approved the designation of the D-G, Dr R Adam, as South Africa's representative for the position.
· The objective of the GEO is to develop a new comprehensive, internationally coordinated earth observation system, which would optimally support global efforts to address environmental, economic and social challenges.
· A 10-year Implementation Plan for the creation of this new global earth observation system will be prepared before the end of 2004.

PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BUDGET FOR 2004/5

The Chairperson of the Committee together with the Committee Secretary was invited by the Budget Committee to present the Committee's budget proposal for 2004/5. We proposed a budget of R850 000 but this was reduced by the Budget Committee to R393 486. This amount was broken down as follows:


VISITS TO PROVINCES: R75 000

CATERING : R44 000

PUBLIC HEARINGS : R214 286
RESEARCH : R40 000
CONFERENCES : R20 000
TOTAL : R393 486


The minutes of the Portfolio Committee on Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, meeting, held Room V227, on 26 November 2003, at 9h00.
Agenda:

.Briefing by the Department of Science and Technology on: S & T in NEPAD: Rising to the African Challenge.
2. Consideration and adoption of the Annual Report 2003.
3. Adoption of Minutes.
4. Consideration and adoption of Provincial Study Tour Report.
5. Consideration of Programme for 2004.
6. Briefing by the DC: Arts and Culture on the NAC matter.

Present:
African National Congress (ANC):

Ms M A A Njobe (Chairperson)
Mr. S L Dithebe
Mr. P Mabuyakhulu
Ms X C Makasi
Mrs. N D Mbombo
Prof I J Momamed
Ms H M Mpaka
Ms S P Motubatse-Hounkpatin
Rev L J Tolo
Mrs. T J Tshivhase

Democratic Alliance (DA):


Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP):

Ms M M Mdlalose
Dr R Rabinowitz

New National Party (NNP):

Mrs. A Van Wyk

United Democratic Movement (UDM):


United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP):

Ms M A Seeco

Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC):

Others: Mr. M F Cassim (MP)

Apologies:


The Acting-Chair, Mr. Dithebe, welcomed Members and guests including officials from the Department of Science and Technology: Mr Dhesigen Naidoo: DDG, Mr. Sibusiso Manzini: Director: Africa, Prof Neil Turok and Prof Fritz Hahne.
Mr. Naidoo took the Committee through the presentation on S & T in NEPAD. Some of the comments he made included the following:
· South Africa is Chair of the Steering Committee for the next two years.
· The first NEPAD Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology was held in (Johannesburg), South Africa, in November 2003.
· The Conference adopted a NEPAD S & T Plan of Action.
· The Plan of Action will include: Flagship programmes, Networks of Centres of Excellence; Innovation Hubs; Human resource capacity development; International engagement; Governance and Funding and Resourcing.

Prof Turok, assisted by Prof Hahne, followed by addressing the Committee on the participation of students in math's and science. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) recently established, is in partnership with some of the major national and international universities in the world, including: Stellenbosch, UCT, UWC, Cambridge, Oxford and Orsay. The next project of AIMS is to interact with other like-minded centers in Africa. AIMS have outstanding lecturers. The first intake consisted of 30 students from 14 countries. The present target is to build the number of students to 50 by the year 2005. Some of AIMS supporters include: former President:
Mr. Nelson Mandela, Minister of A, C S & T: Dr Ben Ngubane, Director General Science and Technology: Dr Rob Adam, Deputy Minister of Education: Mr. Mosibudi Mangena, Minister of Education: Prof Kader Asmal, Sir John Sulston (Nobel medicine 2002) and Dr Joseph Taylor (Nobel physics 1997). Funding for AIMS come from, among others: Vodacom, DST (SA), Ford, PetroSA and Mellon, USAID.

Questions / Comments/ Clarity
· Members wanted to know how many South African students are in the AIMS programme?
· How are topics selected?
· How can you be sure that your programme will be relevant?
· Is African science included in this project?

Responses:
· We have two South Africans in the programme and three more will join soon.
· We support students with material when they complete. We have some funding for the in-service training. The influx of bright students from other African countries, with most doing MA or PHD, will help South African students in the long run.
· We have very good national and international consultants. The question of relevance, are discussed at this level.
· We are very ignorant of African science.

The Acting-Chair mentioned that the visit by the Committee to the Institute in Muizenburg, would, most likely, take place next year. He thanked the presenters and promised that the Portfolio Committee will keep an eye on the programme of the Department.
The Committee proceeded to deal with some in-house issues, including:
· Omission from the Annual Report 2003 - Freedom Park, being an entity that reports to the Committee, to be included in the Report.
· The cancellation of the international trip to Cuba to be included in the Report.
· Members again raised their strong objections towards the way that the study tour to Cuba was cancelled.
The Committee needs a dedicated researcher.
· The Committee will also have to look into how to make follow-ups on reports by other Committees that directly affects this Committee.
· The programme for next year (2004) must include the long outstanding visit to Sutherland.
· The various delegates to the provincial study tours have to meet and finalize their reports, so that the Committee can adopt the condensed report
· Mr. Dithebe, seconded by Mrs. Mbombo, moved for adoption of the Annual Report 2003 with amendments. Motion was agreed to.

The meeting was suspended until lunchtime where the Director-General of
the Department of Arts and Culture, Prof I Mossala, will address the
Committee.
Address by Prof Mosala on the NAC matter.

The Director- General of the Department of Arts and Culture, Prof Mosala, addressed the Committee on the NAC matter. He provided the Committee with a background report on what became known as the "NAC matter" Some of the points he made included the following:
· The challenges in the execution of transformation and governance, is experienced in most Government institutions and that includes the Department of Arts and Culture.
· The Chairperson of the NAC Board briefed the b-G (a week before the suspension) that the Board will act on issues relating to management.
· Subsequent discussions with the CEO of the NAC, Ms Doreen Mthetwa, were held, where mention was made of the strained relationship between herself and the Board. The Minister was informed on this.
· The CEO proceeded with a document on those matters, to be discussed at a follow-up meeting.
· The suspension by the Board of the CEO derailed this intended meeting.
· The Board provided two main reasons for their action:
1. Financial irregularities of a huge magnitude.
2. Management and labour relation's issues.
· The Board appointed an independent investigator that will provide a report.
· The Minister has been briefed and he agreed with what the Board is doing.
· The Board will continue functioning and will consider the appointment of an acting CEO.
· The investigation to be speeded up to provide closure as soon as possible.
· Funding of projects will not be affected.
· The lines of communication will be kept open

Questions/Comments/Clarity.

· Members felt that the actions taken by the Board was correct.
· If the Board was aware of financial improprieties, why did they not act sooner?
· Will the Department have monitoring presence during the investigation?
· When will the PC receive the outcome of the investigation?
· What is being done about the recent tirade, over the radio by the Chair of the Board?

Response:

· Many of our people are new to the functions of boards, so this is a learning curve.
· Yes, there is a governing unit that will monitor the situation. Price Water Cooper is the investigating unit.
· I will report to the Committee on the outcome of the investigation as soon as it becomes available.
· The radio/Chair saga will be mentioned to the Minister.

The Chair thanked the DG for making himself available and keeping the Committee informed. The Committee beliefs, it is important that the process be allowed to complete its course.
The Chair also thanked Members of the Committee for their hard work, dedication and support throughout the year. She wished everyone a happy festive season and a productive new year

Meeting adjourned at 13:55
Committee Secretary: Mr. J Ramrock
Committee Chairperson: Mrs. MAA Njobe Date: