Photo credit: Zwelethemba Kostile, Parliament
(On 5 May 2026) the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Blade Nzimande, led the presentation of the 2026/2027 Annual Performance Plans of the National Research Foundation (NRF) and Human Sciences, Research Council (HSRC) to Parliament.
In his opening remarks Minister Nzimande emphasised the importance of “making deliberate and significant investments in enhancing South Africa’s science, technology, and innovation capabilities and the need for the country to respond innovatively to the changes that are occasioned by revolutionary technologies such as AI.”
He further emphasised the need “to be more decisive about using science, technology, and innovation to break the grip of structural inequality, poverty, and unemployment, building safer, cohesive, and stable communities, and contribute to building a capable, ethical developmental state. This task requires the whole of government to act in concert.”
Minister Nzimande also used the opportunity to highlight the critical role that the NRF and HSRC are playing in strengthening South Africa’s National System of Innovation (NSI) and making it more responsive to the national priorities.
In this regard, the Minister commended both Entities “for their role in supporting government’s priorities by highlighting the critical support that the HSRC provided to the country at the height of the global outbreak COVID-19 pandemic, in the form of surveys which informed the National Corona Virus Command Council (NCCC) and the Ministers on public perceptions and vaccine hesitancy, among others.”
He further highlighted the fact that, “NRF-funded students continue to demonstrate a higher completion rate and lower dropout rates compared to national averages and that the NRF continues to do an excellent job in managing some of South Africa’s most strategic science facilities such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), and the i-Themba Labs.”
This article originally appeared on the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation’s website here.
View the HSRC’s Annual Performance Plan 2026/2027 here.
