The Motaung and related families;
My Special Advisor, Mr. Nqaba Nqandela; Our Director-General, Dr. Mlungisi Cele;
The Chairperson of the TIA Board, Mr. Loyiso Tyira; The CEO of the NRF, Prof. Fulufhelo Nolwamondo;
Dr Judy Dlamini, Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand; Representatives of our National Science and Academic Institutions; Representatives of National and International Partner Institutions; Colleagues from Global Health Biotech;
The Friends and Colleagues of Prof. Motaung;
Colleagues and Partners who are joining remotely from various parts of our country and the world;
Fellow South Africans:
Today, we gather as a country to pay tribute to one of our nation’s most decorated and internationally recognised black female scientist. A pioneer, innovator, and mentor, who never allowed any obstacle to stop her from pursuing her most cherished dreams.
Even though she had risen to the highest levels possible and had earned a variety of national and international honours, Prof. Motaung made time to mentor thousands of young, black, and female scientists and entrepreneurs, some of whom are present here today.
The scope and totality of her life teach us a number of invaluable lessons. The first lesson we learn from Prof. Motaung’s life is the need for our scientists and researchers to always remember the question: what problem does my knowledge seek to solve?
One of the reasons why Prof. Motaung established her company Global Health Biotech was to address the problem of unemployed graduates. For this reason, she decided to make her own PhD students shareholders in her company. She did not just identify the problem or lament about it. She ventured to find a solution. Not the professional lamenters who are forever complaining and never provide any solutions.
The second lesson we learn from Prof. Motaung’s life is her extraordinary commitment to placing our indigenous knowledge at the centre of research and development. In a 2018 interview, when she was asked about the inspiration behind the development of her ointment, La-Africa Soother, she replied:
“I met up with a traditional healer in Limpopo in 2015. She used a confidential blend of herbs and plant species to help people who complained about pain in their joints and knees. She also told me of a man who had broken his hand but had been told by the local hospital to come back after a month to be treated.
So, he went to the healer. When he went back to the hospital, x-rays showed his hand had healed. It seemed that the unique combination of herbs had knitted bone and eased swelling.
I was sure that these plants had anti-inflammatory properties, and further testing confirmed it. I then created an ointment, La-Africa Soother, using these plants.”
In developing this ointment, Prof. Motaung demonstrated how indigenous knowledge can be used to drive innovation and improve healthcare outcomes.
It is because of people like her that UNESCO recently designated our country’s African Institute on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIIKS), as a category II centre.
This centre brings together a network of 30 members, including four South African universities, two from Germany, one from Canada, and other institutions from across the continent.
The Centre focuses on critical areas such as healthcare and wellness, climate change resilience, and environmental sustainability. I have no doubt that Prof. Motaung would been one of our resource persons for this Centre.
The third lesson that we learn from Prof. Motaung’s life is that our research must be responsive to the lived reality of ordinary people. This means that, the research that is produced by our public research institutions must be deliberate about addressing our immediate development challenges as a country.
We therefore expect all our public research institutions to concern themselves with proactively finding sustainable solutions for such issues as poverty, inequality, unemployment, gender-based violence, energy security, the deleterious impact of climate change and the growing problem of cancer in our country.
The fourth lesson that we learn from Prof. Motaung’s life is that, as public policy makers and leaders of public science and academic institutions, we must develop the courage to consciously undo what I call the Verwoerdian curse.
What do I mean by this? Many of our young black people, continue to be afraid of maths and science. This fear does not arise from a lack of ability on the part of our young people, but from the centuries of institutionalised anti-black stereotyping.
You may recall that, shortly after the passing of the Bantu Education Act of 1953, the then apartheid Minister of Education, Hendrik Verwoerd infamously stated that:
“What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? That is quite absurd. Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.”
Prof. Motaung’s life does not just shatter this racist myth, but also serves as irrefutable evidence that, not only can black people and in particular black women, do science, but they are more than capable of breaking new ground in the various fields of science.
In response to our current international context, Prof. Motaung’s work should propel both established and emerging scientists and researchers to realise that given its immense power to shape society and the world, science is not and cannot be neutral.
Progressive science must concern itself with the well-being of humanity. This means that our scientists and researchers must uphold the principle that scientific knowledge must be used responsibly and ethically.
One of the biggest tragedies of our time is the fact that science and more specifically AI is being used in the execution of the genocide in Gaza. A genocide that is being livestreamed on our television screens.
The Lieber Institute notes that “Israel has used the battlefield to actively experiment and use artificial intelligence (AI)-decision support systems (AI-DSS) to compile potential targets, also described as “kill lists.” The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have established a large-scale facial recognition program at various checkpoints in Gaza. It is reportedly used to conduct mass surveillance and collect biometric data from Palestinians without their knowledge or consent.”
In addition to the mass murder of unarmed civilians, Israel has also committed what is called epistemicide. This as you know refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of a people’s knowledge systems and knowledge infrastructure.
Since October 2023, Israel has destroyed all 12 universities in Gaza, and nearly all of the schools have been damaged or destroyed, and more than 4,327 students killed.
It also estimated that 231 teachers/administrators were killed in the initial months of the war and an estimated 193 university professors and academics have also been killed.
In committing epistemicide, Israel has not just obliterated an entire knowledge system of a people, but also an important civilisation which dates back to the period 9000 BCE.
Given our own history of resistance against colonialism and apartheid and how the apartheid state used science and scientific institutions to enable the oppression of the black majority, South Africa’s public science and academic institutions cannot afford to be neutral in the face of the genocides that are unfolding in Gaza, Congo, or Sudan.
In conclusion, in Prof. Motaung, we are not only paying tribute to someone who displayed an irrepressible commitment to socially relevant research.
We are also paying tribute to someone who was driven by a deep commitment to change the lives of the young people of our country through education, science, and entrepreneurship.
As Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, it is my belief that the best tribute we can give Prof. Motaung is by ensuring that we enable the young girls and boys, from the most marginalised sections of our society to realise their dreams of becoming scientists, academics, and entrepreneurs.
I also wish to state that, I am going to ask our DG to investigate what award or programme we can name after Prof. Motaung, as a way of honouring her contribution.
On behalf of our President, His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, I wish to convey our deepest condolences as government to the children and family of Prof. Motaung and also express our country’s gratitude to her for her selfless service to our country and its people.
May her beautiful memory live on and continue to inspire each of us to give our best in whatever we do.
Thank you.
