VZCZCXRO3559
RR RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHSA #1063/01 1470819
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 270819Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8608
INFO RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 6895
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 1008
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 9245

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 001063 
 
DEPT FOR OES/PCI, OES/ENV, AND AF/S 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SENV SOCI ETRD SF
SUBJECT: FORMER MININSTER OF EDUCATION NAMED NEW MININSTER OF 
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Newly-elected President Jacob Zuma has appointed 
former Minister of Education Naledi Pandor as the new Minister for 
Science and Technology.  Long-standing Deputy Minister Derek Andre 
Hanekom remains in place, as do key officials in the 
quasi-governmental S&T entities.  No major changes are expected in 
S&T policies.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Pandor Has Experience, But Not in Science and Technology 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) President Jacob Zuma has nominated former Minister of 
Education Naledi Grace Mandisa Pandor as Minister for Science and 
Technology.  She was appointed Minister of Education in 2004 and 
served in that position until this May.  In 2002 she became the 
first woman Chancellor of Cape Technikon University. 
 
¶3.  (U) Pandor received a Bachelor's degree in history and English 
from then University of Botswana and Swaziland (UBS) in 1977. 
(Note.  The University of Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho was 
founded in 1964 to reduce the three countries' reliance on tertiary 
education in apartheid-era South Africa. Lesotho withdrew from the 
partnership in 1975 to establish its own national university.  On 
December 31, 1981, UBS was amicably divided into two separate 
national universities.  End Note.)  Pandor completed her Master 
Degree in English at the University of London in 1978, and obtained 
a Masters of General Linguistics from the University of Stellenbosch 
in 1997. 
 
¶4.  (U) Pandor was an Associate Director of the Academic Support 
Program at the University of Cape Town (UCT) from 1992 - 1993, and a 
senior lecturer and coordinator of UCT's English for Academic 
Purposes Program from 1989 to 1991.  She was Head of the English 
Department at Taung College of Education in 1986, and a senior 
lecturer there from 1984 to 1986. 
 
¶5.  (U) Pandor served as National Director of the Black Management 
Forum in 1993, and Executive Director of the Desmond Tutu 
Educational Trust in 1993-1994.  She was elected as a Member of 
Parliament in 1994 and served as ANC Deputy Whip in 1995. 
 
------------------------------- 
Key S&T Players Remain in Place 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Key officials in the Ministry and the quasi-governmental 
agencies remain in place.  Derek Andre Hanekom remains as Deputy 
Minister of Science and Technology, having served in that position 
since April 2004.  He has been a member of the ANC National 
Executive Committee since 1994. 
 
¶7.  (U) Hanekom graduated from high school in Cape Town in 1970.  He 
has taken several non-degree courses in economics, land and 
agricultural policy. 
 
 
¶8.  (U) Hanekom was a full-time farmer from 1978 to 1983.  He began 
his political life in 1976 by participating in a candlelight 
demonstration at Police Headquarters n Johannesburg.  He was 
arrested in 1983, along with his wife and spent 9 months in prison 
awaiting trial for high treason.  He was imprisoned for two years 
for the lesser charge of possessing banned materials. 
 
¶9.  (U) Hanekom acted as Coordinator of the Administrative Training 
Project (ATP), an NGO providing support to churches and trade unions 
from 1986 to 1987.  He went into exile in Zimbabwe in 1988, 
returning in 1990 to act as coordinator of the ANC Land and 
Agricultural Desk, responsible for agricultural policy matters.  He 
served as Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs from 1994 to 
1999, and as Member of Parliament from 1999 to 2004.  While Minister 
of Agriculture he piloted various reform bills through Parliament to 
Qof Agriculture he piloted various reform bills through Parliament to 
redress the effect of apartheid laws. 
 
¶10.  (U) There have been no changes in the leadership of the 
National Research Foundation (NRF).  Acting Chief Executive Officer 
and Vice-President Dr. Albert van Jaarsveld will remain, along with 
Vice-President of Research Infrastructure Dr. Gatsha Mazithulela, 
Executive Director for Knowledge Management and Evaluation Dr. Daisy 
Selematsela, Executive Director for Knowledge Fields Development Dr. 
Andrew Kaniki, Executive Director for New Business Development Dr. 
Rocky Skeef, and Executive Director for Institutional Capacity 
Development Dr. Romila Maharaj.  Dr. van Jaarsveld served as Dean of 
the Science Faculty at the University of Stellenbosch until January 
2007 when he joined the NRF.  His previous appointments include 
positions at the University of Pretoria, and Adjunct Professor of 
Environmental Studies at Dartmouth.  His research interests include 
conservation and biocomplexity.  He has published over one hundred 
primary papers, including works cited in Science and Nature 
 
PRETORIA 00001063  002 OF 002 
 
 
magazines. 
 
¶11.  (U) No major changes are expected at the Council for Science 
and Industrial Research (CSIR).  Dr. Sibusiso Sibisi remains as 
President and CEO, a position he has held since January 2002.  He 
held the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and 
Innovation) at UCT prior to his CSIR appointment.  Dr. Sibisi holds 
a PhD in physics from Cambridge University and was a research 
professor at that University in 1989. He was a Fulbright Fellow at 
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1984.  He began his 
academic career as a in a research position at the University of 
Witwatersrand Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics in 
¶1984. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
DST Contacts See Advantages in Pandor's Political Connections 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶12.  (U) DST working staff does not see Pandor's lack of S&T 
credentials as a problem because she is an experienced Minister. 
DST contacts comment that Pandor will probably initiate new science 
development programs, especially in the education arena.  They note 
that she has championed educational reform aimed at improving the 
quality of math and science teaching at lower levels so that high 
school students will be prepared for universities.  One contact 
notes that Pandor has been interacting with the broader scientific 
community as part of this process and thus has a familiarity with 
some S&T groups. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Comment: Few Substantive S&T Policy Changes Expected 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Comment.  Naledi Pandor is the first S&T Minister from 
the ANC.  This may mean that her initiatives will be implemented 
with greater success than those of her predecessors Mosibudi 
Mangena, who came from the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO), 
and Ben Ngubane, who came from the Inkatha Freedom party (IFP). 
Pandor is expected to push for better science education at the 
primary and high school levels.  No major policy shifts are expected 
in S&T issues.  End Comment. 
La Lime