Image: DSI
Phil Mjwara makes “brutally honest” remark before retiring from department he’s led for 18 years
South Africa’s top science official has said the sector is undervalued. Phil Mjwara made the comment two weeks before his official retirement date.
After serving nearly two decades as director-general at the Department of Science and Innovation, Mjwara’s last day in post will be 28 March. His retirement was announced on 15 March by Blade Nzimande, the science and higher education minister, who praised Mjwara’s significant contributions as the nation’s longest-serving director-general of the DSI.
The DSI’s head of international cooperation, Daan du Toit, will replace Mjwara in an acting role for the next 12 months.
Two days before the announcement, Mjwara (pictured) said that, in his view, science is undervalued in South Africa. “Now I’m retiring, so I’m going to be a bit more brutally honest,” he said.
He was speaking after the Treasury slashed his department’s budget by R3 billion (US$161 million) over the next three years.
Science in the cockpit
Mjwara made the comments while addressing the parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation at iThemba Labs near Cape Town on 13 March, as it presented its legacy report for the country’s sixth parliament.
He compared the work of his department and scientific institutions to piloting an aeroplane full of passengers.
“You usually don’t think about these things that happen in the cockpit and what the pilot and the engineers have to do to make sure you’re safe as you move from A to B. I always say the science system is like that—it’s this quiet set of activities that are happening behind the scenes that [allow] society to continue to fly smoothly,” he said.
For example, he said, the reason the government had the right genomic surveillance information to purchase appropriate vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic was because South Africa decided to invest in biotechnology many years ago.
“All of the things that we are celebrating today, all of the successes we had as a science system during Covid—it’s not [because of] investments that were made a year before; they were made over a period of 15 to 20 years,” he said.
Praise for Mjwara
Nzimande praised Mjwara for leaving the public service “with a solid reputation of visionary and ethical leadership”.
The minister also praised Mjwara’s contribution to South Africa’s Decadal Plan for Science Technology and Innovation, a 10-year science plan for the country, and the establishment of the Technology Innovation Agency and the South African National Space Agency.
Several other prominent figures in the South African science community lauded Mjwara’s service following the announcement of his resignation.
“Phil, you provided commendable leadership to position the [South African Science Technology and Innovation] system, congratulations and well-done,” wrote Frans Swanepoel, research chair in sustainable food systems at the University of Pretoria, on LinkedIn.
“[A] privilege to have worked with you, Dr Phil. You are an inspiring leader. Wish you all the best in your retirement,” wrote Maneshree Jugmohan-Naidu, the director of agricultural biotechnology at the DSI, also on LinkedIn.