The wind picks up, blowing whorls of dust down the street. The men sitting on the side of the road avert their eyes and retreat further into the shade of the colonial-style building they are leaning against. This was a common sight in Carnarvon in the Northern Cape in 2011, before
Browsing: Derek Hanekom
Science and technology minister Derek Hanekom on Tuesday unveiled programmes in Carnarvon, the town nearest to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) site, to boost maths and science education in the area. South Africa will be sharing the world’s largest telescope, which comprises
The first phase of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope in the Karoo could result in an inflow of R18bn into South Africa, says science & technology minister Derek Hanekom. “Preliminary estimates for the operations cost put the potential net foreign inflow into South Africa – for SKA phase one only
The CSIR’s National Laser Centre has created what it calls the world’s first digital laser. South African scientists working at the centre have created a means of controlling a laser beam’s shape digitally and they claim the implications for health care, manufacturing, communications and other industries
In a boost for South African science education, the University of South Africa (Unisa) has opened a new, R1bn science campus in Florida, Johannesburg. The campus houses Unisa’s college of agriculture and environmental sciences and its college of science, engineering and technology
SunSpace, started by a group of University of Stellenbosch students, has had a difficult and uncertain three years, filled with unfulfilled government promises and contracts that failed to materialise. Space has been identified as one of the department of science & technology’s five grand challenges – the others are the
Microsoft plans to work with the CSIR and the State IT Agency (Sita) to launch a trial network in South Africa’s Limpopo province that will test the feasibility of using so-called television white-spaces spectrum to offer more affordable wireless broadband access. The trial will be the third white-spaces trial
The opposition Democratic Alliance’s annual report card of the cabinet is in, and communications minister Dina Pule has not emerged well, receiving an “E” for her performance in 2012.
“Pule’s involvement in the ICT Indaba scandal and her hand in the year of missed opportunities at Telkom
Derek Hanekom has taken over the department of science & technology after eight years as its deputy. Where does your interest in science come from?
I found my school years easy, but I wasn’t a model pupil, for sure, and never did my homework. I gravitated towards the humanities and started with law
With hair clipped close to his head and a speedy gait, Derek Hanekom, 59, is energetic but welcoming when he sits down with me at a roadside restaurant table on Anderson Street in downtown Johannesburg. He puts his Apple iPhone on the table, orders coffee and sparkling water, and, when I ask him for his