1 The role of DST in support of NRF implementation of programme and policy for Astronomy Briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology Mrs GNM Pandor 11 August 2010

2 Introduction: Why are we here? The disciplinary hearing of the Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) Letters received from Members of the Portfolio Committee. Letters received from the local astronomical community and International Organisations. Invitation by the Chair of the Portfolio Committee to address this and present an outline of the future of astronomy in SA.

3 Staffing of National facilities “The staff of the National Facilities are appointed by the NRF in accordance with its conditions of service.” (NRF Act 5(4)) Disciplinary matters related to any staff at the National Facilities must be handled in line with labour legislation governing employer – employee matters. Aggrieved staff at the national Facilities thus have recourse to a raft of measures. This includes staff employed at the SAAO However, arising from the concerns raised by members of the astronomy community locally and abroad, by some Members of Parliament, and informed by the importance of Astronomy as a national priority, in this instance, the Minister initiated the following steps:

4 Steps taken Met with representatives of the astronomy community in South Africa. Engaged with members of the international astronomy community Convened a meeting with the Chair and CEO of the NRF to provide a briefing on the matter. Requested the Chair of the NRF to undertake an enquiry into the matter and to advise the Minister accordingly. Responded to letters from various interested parties (including Ms Shinn) Informed the National Assembly, through the Chair of the Portfolio Committee of the key recommendations made by the Chair of the NRF These recommendations will be addressed later in this presentation

5 The Mandate of the NRF As stated in the NRF Act (1998) The object of the Foundation is to support and promote research through funding, human resource development and the provision of the necessary research facilities in order to facilitate the creation of knowledge, innovation and development in all fields of science and technology, including indigenous knowledge and thereby to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of all the people of the Republic.

6 The mandate of the NRF Activities in Science and technology have increased significantly in the past 10 years. This has resulted in the expansion of the mandate of the NRF and other Science Councils. The DST is reviewing existing mandates and evaluating whether additional measures to support Science Councils should be developed.

7 National Research Facilities 5. (1) The Minister may by notice in the Gazette determine a research facility as a national facility under the control of the Foundation. (2) Any researcher or research institution may, subject to such conditions as the Foundation may determine, apply to utilise a national facility for research or instruction. (3) The Foundation may not acquire, or manage the operation of, any research facility other than a national facility placed under the control of the Foundation under subsection (1). (4) The staff of the National Facilities are appointed by the NRF in accordance with its conditions of service. (NRF Act) The Act is silent on the process to review a decision in terms of 5(1) above. Examples of National Facilities include the iThemba Labs, HartRAO, SAAO, HMO, SAIAB, SAEON and the NZG

8 South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the National Facility for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa. It is managed by the NRF. Its headquarters are in Cape Town and its observing facilities at Sutherland in the Northern Cape. SAAO is host to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and is also host to a variety of small telescopes run on behalf of, or in collaboration with, Korea, Japan, Germany and the UK as well as a geodynamic observatory and various seismographs.

9 Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) SALT is an international collaboration, with approximately one third belonging to South Africa, one third to various USA universities and the rest to countries or organisations within Europe. It is the single largest optical telescope in the Southern hemisphere and was built at about 20% of the cost of a conventional telescope. It is sited at Sutherland at an altitude of 1800m. The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) Pty Ltd is a limited liability company that was founded in order to undertake the construction and operation of SALT.

10 NRF, SALT and SAAO The DST, through the NRF, holds about 33% of issued stock in SALT Pty Ltd. This shareholding is directly related to the amount of time that South African Astronomers can use to undertake their observations in any given year i.e. 33% of the number of hours available for observations. The SAAO is contracted by SALT Pty Ltd to operate SALT. SAAO receives income of about R21 million annually as the operations budget of SALT from SALT Pty Ltd. Of this amount, about R6.5 million is the South African contribution to the operations of SALT and this is linked to the South African shareholding, hence it provides about 33% of the total operations budget of SALT Pty Ltd.

11 The Future of Astronomy in South Africa Existing Facilities 1.The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the National Facility for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa. 2. Hartebeeshoek Radio Observatory (HartRAO), situated in Gauteng, is the National Facility for radio astronomy. It has a 26m dish built by NASA, but resurfaced locally to reach frequencies up to 22 GHz. HartRAO also has a satellite laser ranging facility and an IGS GPS network and engages in geodesy as well as in radio astronomy. 3. High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) The HESS telescope array is situated in Namibia, near the Gamsberg mountain. It detects very high energy, 100 GeV, gamma-rays. 4. Hermanus Magnetic Observatory is South Africa’s geomagnetic research facility and monitors and models variations of the Earth’s magnetic field.

12 The Future of Astronomy in South Africa 5. Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), as indicated previously, is a 10-m class optical telescope modelled on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas. 6. Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT) and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) SKA is a $2-billion project to build a radio telescope with a hundred times the sensitivity of any existing telescope. It is a truly international project and its feasibility will ultimately depend on new technology, hardware and IT. Several countries bid to host SKA and in The two finalists are Australia and South Africa. A decision is expected in 2012/13. The NRF also has oversight of the SKA project office on behalf of the DST. A process is underway to determine the location of the SKA project headquarters. 7. The MeerKAT (meer is Afrikaans for “more”) has arisen out of South Africa's ambition to host the SKA and will be one of several science and technology “pathfinders” currently under construction around the globe.

13 The Future of Astronomy in South Africa Building on these strengths, Government continues to position astronomy as one of the country’s comparative advantage areas in Science. SKA bid is on track, the KAT-7 has been commissioned, and MeerKat is progressing well with full support from our African partners including Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana and Mauritius We are very pleased and proud that SAAO was awarded the International Astronomy Development Office in May Clearly, great strides have been made in astronomy in South Africa in the past decade and the increased scope and scale of the activities have warranted a re-examination of the location, management and governance of the astronomy sector as a whole. The recent tension between the NRF and SAAO has brought to the fore the need to reach agreement on the most appropriate arrangements for advancing astronomy. The Minister of Science & Technology has initiated broad based consultations on this matter.

14 Advice by NRF Board Chair As indicated previously, the NRF Board Chair, Professor Belinda Bozzoli, was requested by the Minister of Science & Technology to advise on steps to be taken by the NRF to strengthen and improve the relationships with the astronomy community and to advise the Minister on the best location of authority and facilities related to the advancement of astronomy The following are some of the substantive and systemic recommendations that have been made to the Minister.

15 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE MINISTER 1.1. It is recommended that the Minister determine a new framework for the development and management of Astronomy in South Africa. In this regard, it is proposed that the following actions be considered in the interim and as part of the determination of the framework: –The establishment of an Interim Advisory Board for SAAO to advise the NRF board on specific matters regarding the SAAO. 1.2 In the longer term, establish a national “Astronomy Advisory Board” to advise the Minister on the development and management of the Astronomy in South Africa. The Chair of the Board should be an independent researcher of stature and not a NRF/ DST employee.

16 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE MINISTER 1.3.The Minister is requested to support ongoing and transparent consultation with the astronomy community including the DST, the NRF and SKA project regarding the matter of the location of the MeerKAT Operations Centre. 1.4.The Minister is requested to ensure greater participation of the South African government on matters regarding the affairs of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to the benefit of South Africa and the SALT initiative.

17 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE NRF BOARD It is recommended that the Minister directs the NRF Board to discuss the implications of the outcomes of this investigation. The Board should also meet with the CEO and Corporate Executive to discuss the same and propose a way forward.

18 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE CEO OF THE NRF Pending the establishment of the national “Astronomy Advisory Board” for Astronomy, the NRF should establish an Astronomy “desk” to improve the development and management of astronomy to the benefit of the entire astronomy community. The NRF should consider and implement necessary measures to restore organizational and public confidence in the management of the affairs of the SAAO and NRF. The CEO should lead a process of consultations and, or review of policies and practices, to correct the perception that research at the national facilities was under valued relative to administrative competence. The Board of the NRF should direct that the CEO take personal intermediate responsibility for managing the NRF interface with SAAO.

19 IN CONCLUSION… The Director General and his team will continue to engage with the ongoing implementation of these recommendations to ensure that they do address fully the concerns that have been raised and position Astronomy even more strongly in the future. Once these have been fully scrutinised, I will happily brief the Portfolio Committee again.

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21 Thank you