Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dr Philemon Mphathi Mjwara as director-general of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
Mjwara (47) is group executive responsible for research and development at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and is expected to start work at the DST on 1 April.
Outgoing director-general, Dr Rob Adam, has been appointed CEO of the Nuclear Energy Foundation of South Africa with effect from 1 March.
Before becoming group executive for the CSIR in 2005, Mjwara was head of the CSIR National Laser Centre where he was instrumental in creating a network of laser centres in Africa.
"I am looking forward to this new challenge," says Mjwara. "I see this as an opportunity to contribute to directing science and technology activities towards socio-economic ends, thereby increasing its relevance to socio-economic development. I also hope to see the fruits of science and technology diffusing through to society in the best possible way."
Mjwara has also served as a professor of science and technology policy at the University of Pretoria and as a physics lecturer at Wits, Unisa and Fort Hare universities.
"I am delighted to have appointed a director-general that has been an active and key role player in the national system of innovation," says Mosibudi Mangena, minister of science and technology.
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