Minister Blade Nzimande: 2025 end of the year message

We have come to the end of yet another productive and momentous year for the advancement of science, technology and innovation and for the development of our country.

We just come from hosting the first G20 event on the African continent, which by all accounts, was a highly successful set of events.

As an outcome of the work that was led by our Department, under auspices of the G20’s Research and Innovation Working Group (RIWG), science, technology and innovation formed a core part of the Declaration that was adopted by the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

In November, our country’s National System of Innovation (NSI) celebrated two major milestones.

One is the approval that was granted to one of our local companies, Biovac to begin clinical trials for its Oral Cholera Vaccine.

This breakthrough positions South Africa as a vaccine distributor to a full-scale manufacturing hub and also enhances our country’s capacity to contribute to the realisation of the African Union’s objective of ensuring that, by 2040, at least 60% of all vaccines used in Africa are produced within Africa’s own borders.

The other was the declaration by UNESCO of our country’s African Institute on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIIKS), as a category II Centre.

This centre is another first for the African continent and brings together a network of 30 members, which include South African universities and others from Germany, 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.

Also in November, we hosted and celebrated the 10th anniversary of our country’s biggest and premier science gathering, Science Forum South Africa (SFSA), which attracted over 6000 participants this year.

Then in December, we earned another feather in our cap, we cohosted the 13th World Conference of Science Journalists, which like our G20 Presidency, was another first for the African continent and attracted over 400 participants.

These and the other milestones we achieved in 2025, are a direct outcome of government’s sustained investment in science, technology and innovation, over the past three decades and serve as further evidence of South Africa’s status as an emerging global leader in a number of critical scientific fields.

Priorities areas for 2026

Building on the successes and lessons of 2025 and guided by our White Paper and Decadal Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (2022-2032) and fueled by our newly adopted mantra, which is: ‘Placing Science, Technology and Innovation at the Centre of Government, Education, Industry and Society’, we will continue to accelerate the modernisation of key sectors of our economy such as mining, manufacturing, agriculture, health innovation, energy security and the digital economy.

Therefore in 2026, our Department of Science, Technology and Innovation will maintain its focus on the following strategic priorities:

1.Increasing the Gross Expenditure on Research and Development to 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product and building a strategic compact between organised business, government, and labour to agree on its future funding;

2.Accelerating the transformation and expansion of science, technology and innovation human resources and our research workforce, through among others, the Presidential PhD Programme;

3.Strengthening the coordination and direction of our National System of Innovation (NSI) through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation, Presidential Plenary for Science, Technology and Innovation and other policy coordination instruments;

4.Maintaining and upgrading our key science infrastructure and projects such as the Square Kilometre Array, Nuclear Medicine Research Infrastructure (NuMeRI), and developing credible pandemic preparedness capacity;

5.Building strategic innovation compacts by aligning the strategic focus areas of our Decadal Plan with the corresponding line function departments;

6.Mobilising additional funding and resources to raise the scale of our key programmes such as artificial intelligence, energy security, space, vaccine innovation manufacturing, Indigenous Knowledge Systems; and

7.Together with the Entities of our Department significantly raising our public awareness and outreach programmes on the contributions of our public science system and institutions to national development.

In conclusion, I wish to thank our Deputy Minister, Dr.  Nomalungelo Gina, our Director-General, Dr. Mlungisi Cele and the entire Senior Management and Staff of our Department and our Entities, for their unwavering support and dedication during the out-going year.

In anticipation of another exciting year for science, technology and innovation, I wish the staff of our Department and that of our Entities a safe and peaceful festive season and a productive 2026

Enquiries: 
Veli Mbele 
Media Liaison Officer and Spokesperson to the Minister
Cell: 064 615 0644 
E-mail: Veli.Mbele@dsti.gov.za