Hon Chairperson, the Council for Geoscience is mandated to gather, compile, interpret and disseminate geoscience knowledge for South Africa, as provided by the Geoscience Act, Act No 100 of 1993. This Act established the mandate and national responsibilities of the organisation.
During the past year, the Council for Geoscience has continued to execute both its statutory and mandatory programmes. The management of the new national geoscience facilities on behalf of the state is included in the statutory programme. However, the reliance of the organisation on commercially generated income to fund its annual technical programme has proved to be a risky business model.
The global economic downturn coincided with a period in the organisation that saw the completion of large projects funded by the European Union in Africa. The strong South African rand also impacted negatively on the income of the organisation during the year, as significant currency losses were experienced in the international projects.
The Council for Geoscience has to establish and strengthen partnerships with both private and public sector institutions in order to achieve its growing mandate within the context of the broader South African national and international priorities.
The organisation is faced with significant key challenges that include an increased shortage of mid-career scientists, ageing infrastructure, a decline in commercial income, inadequate statutory funding and the refocusing and aligning to address South Africa's developmental challenges.
The council will in the future be more involved in assisting the Department of Mineral Resources to seal extremely dangerous openings of abandoned and unsafe mines. Furthermore, they will be involved in addressing the acid mine drainage, specifically in Gauteng, and will advise the Department of Mineral Resources on the effective rehabilitation of mines.
The production of geoenvironmental maps is seen as a vital step towards the dissemination of information in an appropriate format to local governments in order to assist them with issues relating to land-use planning. The Council for Geoscience is doing excellent work in dolomite stability, especially where there is the continued formation of sinkholes in the Gauteng province.
The council aims to increase earthquake monitoring in the gold mining areas of South Africa with the hope of promoting research into minimising the risk of seismic rock bursts and rock falls and their impact on the lives of miners and on the flooding of abandoned mines.
New amendments to the Geoscience Act will bring new challenges in terms of the additional resources required for the implementation of these changes. This is exactly where the major problem lies. The intended extension of the mandate of the Council for Geoscience will require an additional R80 million per annum, excluding assets.
While the Council for Geoscience is struggling to fulfil its current mandate with allocated resources, the capacity required to fulfil its new intended mandate appears to be far too ambitious. The Treasury is faced with requests from other departments to address more essential needs in South Africa such as energy, housing and water supply. I thank you. [Applause.]