Honourable Chairpersons of the two Portfolio Committees;
Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ms Nomalungelo Gina;
Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ms Makhotso Magdeline Sotyu;
Honourable Members of both Committees;
My special advisor, Mr Nqaba Nqandela;
The DGs of the Departments of Science, Technology and Innovation and Tourism;
Thank you for the opportunity to brief the two Committees on this important Strategy. The purpose of today’s presentation
As Honourable Members may be aware, last year my Cabinet colleague, Minister of Tourism, Ms Patricia De Lille tabled our country’s Astro-Tourism Strategy in Cabinet. In September last year, Cabinet approved this Strategy and in the same month, Minister De lille and I, presided over the launch this strategy in Carnarvon in the Northern Cape, which as you know is the town where the SKA site is housed.
Today, we seek to update the two Portfolio Committees on the strategic intent of this strategy, provide a progress update on the next steps and the implementation plan for this Strategy.
However, before we get a presentation on the strategy, please allow me to make a few pertinent points.
The fascinating story of astronomy in South Africa
South Africa is fast becoming one of the leading nations in the discipline of astronomy and this is why in August last year, we hosted the prestigious General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union. This was first time this prestigious gathering was hosted on the African continent.
Equally, we also have a very robust tourism sector as a country, which is a major contributor to GDP and is expected to grow significantly over the next 5 to 10 years.
Astronomy was institutionalised in South Africa just over two hundred years ago with the establishment of the Royal Observatory on the grounds of what is today known as the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), situated here in Cape Town.
Radio astronomy began in South Africa with a 26-metre dish built by NASA and placed in Hartebeeshoek in 1961 as a ground deep station for receiving and sending data. This dish was later converted into a radio telescope that led to the establishment of the 26m Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomical Observatory (HartRAO), which is now part of the South African Radio Astronomy (SARAO).
After the attainment of democracy era, two major international telescopes were set up in South Africa, which include the 10-metre Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in Sutherland, which is the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.
Then there is the MeerKAT telescope in Carnarvon, which is a precursor to the SKA project. The MeerKAT is another amazing achievement on the global science stage, and we wish to thank our international partners, Germany, Italy, and China for their contribution to this project.
We are also having a growing gamma-ray astronomy community that actively participates in the High-Energy Stereoscopic (HESS) telescope that is located in Namibia.
Our investment in all these high calibre scientific instruments in astronomy enabled an exponential increase in the number of South African astronomers from 60 (only 5 of them were radio astronomers) to about 300 in the last 30 years.
The day-to-day benefits of astronomy
It is also important that I make the point that, contrary to what is often said by some- astronomy is not just about blue sky research. It has real and practical use in the day-to-day lives of people.
For example, GPS- It is the study of astronomy that enabled what we today known as the GPS or Global Positioning System. Our own antennae at our Hartebeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) form part of a global network of telescopes that provides accurate timekeeping and GPS systems.
Invention of Wi-Fi- Astronomy enabled the invention of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi uses techniques which were developed for analysing and transferring radio signals from black holes wirelessly in complex environments, later found expression in modern day Wi-Fi applications.
What is astro-tourism and what do we seek to achieve with this strategy?
As the Honourable Members may be aware, science tourism involves experiences enjoyed when visiting scientific attractions such as scientific landmarks, including museums, laboratories, observatories, and higher educational institutions where research is conducted.
An example of this is our Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng. In this connection, Astro-tourism is therefore a niche market that involves the practice of traveling to different locations that have dark skies or radio quietness to observe astronomical phenomena such as meteorites, eclipses, and visible celestial objects in the night sky.
It is also important to realise that astro-tourism is built around the traditions inherited from our ancestors by different ethnic cultures in observing the skies from time immemorial. Astro-tourism therefore draws heavily from the vast and untapped reservoirs of our indigenous knowledge systems.
Astro-tourism also encompasses all offerings such as observatories, telescopes, museums, planetariums, meteorite sites, visitor centres, amateur astronomy clubs, stargazing, tour-guides, astro-routes, and accommodation establishments, etc.
The strategic importance of Astro-Tourism Strategy
We regard science and tourism as mutually reinforcing and therefore building on our competitive advantages in astronomy and tourism, we seek to use the Astro-Tourism Strategy to achieve the following:
- Enhance the performance of South Africa’s astronomy tourism sector through infrastructure developments and improvements, optimal functioning of various streams of astronomy with tourism offerings and boosting transformation by enhancing the livelihoods of local communities;
- Position South Africa as a world class astrotourism destination that will yield sustainable benefit-sharing opportunities by maximising appropriate investments, improving marketing efforts, and enhancing visitor experience in South Africa; and
- Educate communities about the importance of preserving our dark skies and radio silence as this is a geographic advantage that needs to be protected for astrotourism to thrive.
- Most importantly, we also seek to use this strategy to drive meaningful socio-economic development within poor and rural communities, through science tourism.
Implementation of the Astro-Tourism Strategy
Finally, in implementing the Astro-Tourism Strategy, the Departments of Science, Technology and Innovation and Tourism, are currently working closely together. We have a Steering Committee comprising officials from both departments, the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism.
The National Research Foundation and its sub entities the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), also form part of this Steering Committee.
Equally important, one of the projects being co-funded under this partnership is the planned construction of the SKA Science Tourism Visitor Centre in Carnarvon – this visitor centre project is now through a tender adjudication process so that it can proceed to construction later this year.
Further detail on the Astro-Tourism strategy, the implementation plan, and the partnership between the two departments, will be provided in the presentation you will receive this morning.
End
