By Buti Manamela
When the United States government announced its decision to cut academic and research aid to institutions like Harvard University, the ripple effects were felt far beyond the US borders.
For South Africa, the move has been more than symbolic—it has threatened the continuity of key public health, climate and innovation-driven research initiatives across several of our leading universities.
The abrupt freeze of donor funding, primarily from USAID, NIH and other philanthropic bodies, has exposed a fragile but undeniable truth: we are bearing the brunt of shifting geopolitical tides that we neither caused nor control.
But this is not just a crisis; it is also a turning point. A wake-up call to reimagine how we fund, sustain and grow a research and development (R&D) ecosystem that is resilient, transformative and sovereign.
Over the past decade, international partnerships have played a critical role in enabling South African research excellence. From HIV/AIDS breakthroughs to climate adaptation studies and energy innovation, much of our cutting-edge research has been co-financed by foreign institutions. But as the ground shifts—politically and financially—we are compelled to look inward. We must now ask: how do we secure our intellectual future without being at the mercy of volatile donor cycles?
The answer lies in building on what already exists. Through the National Research Foundation (NRF), we have developed a strong base for funding postgraduate studies, research chairs and early-career academics. The Presidential Stimulus for Research and Innovation—an R1 billion initiative—is a bold step forward. The nGAP programme has begun to transform our academic pipeline by placing young black and women scholars in tenure-track positions. And our growing engagements with BRICS, the African Union, and G20 academic partnerships open new horizons for funding, collaboration, and exchange.
But even this is not enough.
This moment also calls for a hard look at our domestic funding priorities. In a constrained fiscal environment, do we continue to disproportionately fund academic access alone, or do we recalibrate to strengthen the entire knowledge value chain—from undergraduate education to innovation and commercialisation? We must interrogate how bursary allocations can be balanced to also support R&D, critical postgraduate work and long-term innovation missions.
This is where the private sector must step up. Despite being a central stakeholder in the country’s long-term development, private investment in R&D in South Africa remains dismal—well below the 1.5% of GDP target set in the National Development Plan (NDP). In fact, our combined public and private R&D spend has hovered around 0.75% of GDP—far below other middle-income peers. The impact? Fewer research breakthroughs, weakened competitiveness, limited localisation, and slow progress toward industrial modernisation.
If anything, this crisis must serve as a renewed call for public–private R&D compacts.
The financial sector, manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and digital industries all benefit from a robust knowledge economy. It is time they invested back into it—not just through CSR or scholarships, but through long-term research partnerships, endowed chairs, innovation hubs, and venture incubation.
The National Development Plan outlines several critical targets directly tied to a functioning research and innovation system:
• Increasing PhD graduates to 100 per million population by 2030
• Raising R&D expenditure to at least 1.5% of GDP
• Establishing a critical mass of postgraduate researchers in key sectors
• Enhancing public-private collaboration in R&D
• Strengthening innovation to support industrial policy and inclusive growth
Failure to meet these targets will not just set us back academically, it will erode our capacity to compete, solve national problems and claim our rightful place in the global knowledge economy.
We must also embrace this moment as an opportunity to build new international solidarities, especially across the Global South. We must not allow North–South aid asymmetries to dictate the future of African science. Our own scholars, like former UJ Vice-Chancellor Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, who now heads the United Nations University in Japan—are proof that African intellectuals belong on global stages. We have the talent. We need the infrastructure, the funding and the will.
Let us turn this crisis into an opening. Let us use this moment not to close ranks or play victim—but to assert a bold agenda of African-led, globally connected research and innovation. The time to act is now.
Buti Manamela is the Deputy Minister for Higher Education and Training.
INSIDE EDUCATION
