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Director of Ceremonies, awardees, Members of the Academy and guests: I am pleased to be with you at this important event of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

The celebration of achievements and contributions in the setting of our country as we approach ten years of democracy is an opportunity to look ahead and also to look back on the progress we have made. In this respect, I will reflect on the importance of the function of Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF) and its relationship with government and our society.

In the development of our nation there are many challenges that demand our attention and focus on energies. In many developed countries, these challenges are often taken for granted, but the development of a new democracy requires particular focus and ongoing learning and development.

The most obvious sign of development in a nation or region is the physical investment infrastructure such as roads, schools, clinics and communication. As important at this physical structure is the development of the people, the individuals: their literacy, general education, skills and the value systems underlying and guiding their actions and aspirations.

A third manifestation of development is the nature and quality of the institutions in a society. How society is organised and operates collectively is a key metric of its maturity and substantiality. Sound effective institutions are the very backbone of society.

It is not good enough to have educated and trained teachers to deliver education. Institutionally, for instance the Department of Education provides resources such as curricula, tertiary institutions frameworks statutes to govern quality, equity and redress. Civil society is enhanced with labour movements, non-governmental organisations and community-based initiatives to strengthen the work of educators.

Institutions also take time to develop, they do not emerge "fully functioning" overnight. As the saying goes: "Rome was not built in a day", and that means built physically and also institutionally.

Although ours is a young democracy, only nine years old, we have inherited an infrastructure of institutions from the Apartheid era, which reflected the fragmentation of a colonial heritage and highly coercive political ideology, based on race. Hence, in building the new South Africa, the strong emphasis is on transformation - transformation to ensure that our institutional structures adequately reflect and accommodate the diversity and unity of our people.

In the scientific and academic life of a society, one of the important institutions is a functioning Academy of Science. Every country with a robust science system has an active Academy of Science, which recognises signal career achievements by new members elected by existing members.

An Academy plays a subtle, but crucial role in the intellectual fabric of a society and especially in the science system. As indicated Academies are usually self-perpetuating with a merit-based membership which creates an upward aspiration for quality and excellence in scientific endeavour.

The best academies are independent of government at the level of their constitution and programmes. In fact independence of other institutions in society is a virtue of the academy system. This facilitates the expression of science-based viewpoints, unfettered by institutional agendas and especially by money or politics. In this, academies create a credible voice for science on topics of national concern, based on peer evaluation of key outputs from research and the assembly of respected synthesis reports on topical issues. The best academies make these issues accessible to professionals and decision-makers not versed in science as part of a rich engagement in public discourse.

In transforming the South African society, it has been necessary to transform the unacceptable dispensation of a fragmented past, to one serving the new reality of an inclusive, plural, South African society giving recognition to a single Academy of Science, born from the separated institutions of the past.

Because of the nature of an academy, government could not lead such an initiative. But government welcomed the initiative of a representative group of scientists and academics to lay the foundation for a transformed Academy of Science for South Africa. The founders of the new Academy deliberately chose an activist approach requiring attention to problems and challenges facing the South African society.

An academy based only on excellence in esoteric science with no reference to the realities of society, may not be the optimal approach in the complex world we experience in this 21st century, especially in a developing society. On the other hand, the selection of academy activities should be such that benefits will be forthcoming because they were undertaken by an academy as opposed to another kind of body.

Nelson Mandela, then-President, graced the launch of the new Academy in 1996. Since then, much progress has been made. An important milestone was reached when Parliament passed the Academy of Science of South Africa Act, Act 67 of 2001, which became operational on 15 May 2002. This gave statutory recognition to the Academy as the national Academy of South Africa.

In so doing and in supporting the Academy, government respects the independence of the Academy, but strongly signals its intention to work with a single strong national academy.

Tonight we celebrate another milestone in the development of the Academy: the awarding of its first two gold medals. A key function of an academy is the recognition of excellence.

In bringing science home to the realities of a developing country in Africa, I have been informed that ASSAF has a particular emphasis on excellence in the application of scientific thinking to the problems and challenges facing society. Hence the award is called the ASSAF Science-for-Society Gold Medal.

This is good news not just for the Academy but also for the society at large. The process of selecting the awardees is designed to be transparent and independent. Government does not determine the awardees, but we applaud and celebrate excellence wherever we find it.

Therefore we must recognise the mutuality of our independent roles. We in government need a strong viable Academy and we need to celebrate the contributions made by individuals.

The Academy needs to show that science affects people's lives positively and is a source of hope, especially in the light of the legacy of Apartheid, which still bedevils our science system.

I congratulate the awardees and the Academy - I look forward to the handing over of the medals and hope that the Presidential address and the ASSAF annual meeting will continue to guide and strengthen the work of this Academy.

I thank you all.

Issued by: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology

30 September 2003