the closing of the heritage month activities

Speech delivered by Deputy Minister Derek Hanekom, at the closing of the heritage month activities

30 Sep 2010

Programme director,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Like most countries, including China, South Africa looks increasingly to science and technology to create a better future for all its citizens. We are keenly focused on that future.  But, we are also very interested in the past, particularly those elements of the past that have a bearing on our ability to shape the future

Part of that past is being unlocked through the efforts of eminent paleoanthropologists all over the world who have shown us that, although we have differences in language, culture and beliefs, we are one species with a common ancestry that unites us.  It is now accepted that the oldest evidence of that single ancient history is found on the African continent and that Africa is the symbolic Cradle of Humankind.

His Excellency, President Hu Jintao, on the occasion of his visit to South Africa in February 2007, had the opportunity to view important hominid fossils at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. At this same site, in April 2010, the discovery of a new species, Australopithecus sediba, was announced. These remarkably well-preserved fossilised remains, dating back almost 2 million years, provide us with new and astonishing insights into events that produced people like you and me. We wanted to share these recent discoveries with the people of China, which is why precise replicas of these important discoveries have been on display here, in our national pavilion, during the month of September.

But, our involvement with the past does not end there. Our continent has a long and distinguished history in astronomy. We are proud of the curiosity that led scientists to look up into the night skies and wonder. In Nabta Playa in the desert of southern Egypt, scientists have found evidence that construction work, based on astronomical principles, took place 11000 years ago. Later, the Pyramids were built according to the same principles. And, in Cape Town, the famous astronomer Sir John Hershel started mapping the southern skies the day after he disembarked from his ship on 16 January 1834.

Our zeal for unravelling the mysteries of the past has been given a timely boost by the announcement that either South Africa or Australia will host the Square Kilometre Array, the largest radio telescope ever constructed.  With this magnificent project, which, in our case, involves a partnership with a dozen other strategically placed African partner countries, we will be able to look back in time to over 13 billion years ago, to an era when the universe was in its infancy, a mere 500 million years after the Big Bang which set the universe in motion.

The outcome of the contest between ourselves and Australia will not be known until the end of next year, but we are hopeful that the African bid will succeed and bring with it a variety of economic, social and technological opportunities for South Africa and the Southern African region.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to thank the People's Republic of China for providing us with a chance to showcase some of the discoveries that make our country unique, while also providing a platform for us to engage with other countries on matters of mutual interest. I would also like to express our appreciation for our cooperation in the fields of palaeoanthropology and archaeology that has resulted, among other things, in Professor Philip Tobias, South Africa's pre-eminent palaeontologist, being appointed an Honorary Professor at the famous Academy of Sciences in Beijing and an Honorary Professor of the University of Nanjing.

The Shanghai World EXPO 2010 has been a particularly successful event, and I congratulate the people of China on this magnificent achievement. These congratulations come from a country which has itself this year hosted a successful multination event, the FIFA World Cup 2010. I believe we both have reason to be proud.

I am also pleased to announce that these very precise replicas of the Sediba fossils, painstakingly reproduced in the palaeoscience laboratories at the University of the Witwatersrand, will now be donated to the Museum of Natural History here in Shanghai and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing. We are proud to be able to share evidence of our mutual, lengthy past with our Chinese friends. In line with this sentiment we have recently collected a fossil of the mammal-like reptile Lystrosaurus in South Africa which were are currently exposing from the surrounding rock in South Africa and will be donating to China as a symbol of unity between our two countries through the IVPP in Beijing. Lystrosaurus was specifically chosen as it is the symbol of the Palaeontological Society of Southern Africa.

In addition it has been found in China as well as South Africa and shows that South Africa and China were connected in the single continent of Pangea more than 200 million years ago. Our bilateral agreement in the field of palaeosciences will further unite our two countries.

I thank you, and I thank the Government and people of the People's Republic of China.  

Source: Department of Science and Technology

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
30 Sep 2010