25 May 2026
To download a soundbite of Ms Makhubela’s remarks, click on this link: https://iono.fm/e/1679313
Facilitator
Fellow Chairpersons
Media
Audience and the public in general
Chairperson, allow me to emphasise that research and development (R&D) constitute the principal engine of competitiveness in the twenty‑first century. In an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, biotechnology, renewable energy and digital platforms, countries that fail to invest meaningfully in R&D do not simply lag; they relinquish their capacity to influence the very technologies that will determine the future of work, health and security.
Sustained investment in R&D catalyses the emergence of new industries, enhances productivity across existing sectors and mitigates structural dependence on imported technologies. For developing economies such as South Africa, this is not a marginal consideration but a strategic imperative. It marks the difference between remaining locked into the export of raw materials and moving decisively towards the production and export of knowledge‑intensive goods and services that anchor long‑term, inclusive growth.
Increasing investment in research and development (R&D) in the 21st century is not merely about producing more publications or securing additional patents. Rather, it entails constructing an inclusive innovation system in which young people have a clear and supported pathway from the classroom to the laboratory and ultimately to the marketplace. Within such a system, higher education and research institutions become engines of problem-solving for the communities they serve.
Concurrently, technology and digitalisation are fundamentally transforming the state’s approach to social protection. The shift from legacy, paper-based, and highly manual processes to integrated digital ecosystems not only streamlines operations but also enhances the dignity, security, and overall experience of beneficiaries by improving the speed and reliability of service delivery. Digitalisation has the potential to reshape social grant disbursement across four critical stages:
(1) identification and targeting,
(2) application and processing,
(3) disbursement (payouts), and
(4) fraud prevention and accountability.
How can entities like the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) collaborate with the Department of Social Development (DSD) in the area of social protection programmes?
In South Africa, collaboration between the DSD, its agency, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), and statutory science councils such as the CSIR represents a powerful intersection of policy, human‑centric research, and advanced technology. The CSIR provides the technical capability required to build a modern, high‑speed, and secure sovereign digital state.
Building “single view” platforms is critical. One of DSD’s biggest operational hurdles is that key databases (SASSA, Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), Home Affairs, South African Revenue Service (SARS) often operate in silos. The CSIR can design secure, real‑time data integration systems and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that create a single entry point to automatically verify an applicant’s income, employment and citizenship status, dramatically reducing processing backlogs.
Biometrics Security and Fraud Prevention
The CSIR can deploy locally developed, secure biometric systems – such as facial, iris or fingerprint recognition – to protect public funds. This helps ensure that the individual withdrawing or transferring a grant is the verified beneficiary, thereby eliminating identity theft and so‑called “ghost recipients.”
Predictive AI Analytics
By applying data science, the CSIR can design machine learning algorithms that flag anomalous patterns – such as a single mobile number attempting to register multiple grant accounts or systematic exploitation of payment rails – enabling the DSD to proactively halt fraudulent transactions before funds leave the state treasury.
Cybersecurity as Critical National Infrastructure
Given that SASSA manages billions of rands and highly sensitive personal information, the CSIR can serve as a technical guardian by auditing and strengthening DSD’s cloud architecture against cyberattacks, data breaches and widespread network outages. The real impact will be realised when DSD works closely with the CSIR, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and other research institutions.
Smarter Targeting and Data Integration
Before a grant can be paid, eligible recipients must be clearly identified. Technology makes this process more accurate and more inclusive. This can be strengthened through real-time data science.
Frictionless-Multi-Channel Onboarding
Manual in-person applications often lead to long queues, high travel costs for vulnerable people, and massive administrative backlogs. USSD and mobile web solutions that use simple USSD codes (for example, a short sequence that works on basic feature phones without mobile internet) allow citizens to self-enrol in seconds. For vulnerable people, this is a lifeline. This can shorten queues and ensure that when citizens go to pay points or for verification, they are processed in minimal time.
Automated Documented Verification
Optical Character Recognition and facial biometrics can instantly verify identity documents uploaded through smartphone apps, reducing application processing times from weeks to minutes.
Diverse Inclusive Payout Mechanics
- Moving away from cash vans and specific crowded physical distribution points lowers operational costs and reduces physical safety risks for beneficiaries.
- Mobile Money and E-Wallets: In countries with high mobile penetration but large unbanked populations, depositing grants directly into mobile wallets transforms phones into digital bank accounts. Beneficiaries can pay for goods directly or withdraw. Cash via local agents.
Enhanced Security and Fraud Prevention
Digital grant systems provide transparent audit trails that protect public funds and ensure funds reach intended recipients. Biometric authentication – such as requiring a fingerprint, voice print, or facial scan at the point of withdrawal or digital transfer – helps prevent identity theft and ensures that grants cannot be fraudulently claimed by third parties.
Automated Risk Scoring and Defrauding
Data analytics systems can perform continuous anomaly checks, flagging cases where a single mobile number is linked to dozens of separate grant accounts or where a beneficiary is simultaneously registered as employed.
Blockchain and Smart Contracts
In humanitarian and targeted aid settings, blockchain technology enables end-to-end transparency. Programmable smart contracts can automate payouts based on predefined triggers.
The Human Element
While technology enables incredible scale, a successful digital transition must also actively address the digital divide. Hybrid models that combine digitally supported processing with a network of physical, human-led support centres help ensure that people with low digital literacy or limited connectivity are not left behind. This requires decisive and bold moves by the state to ensure that science enhances the work of government. It must assist human capital by putting systems in place that cut against time and restore the dignity of the most vulnerable, especially those who are differently abled, so that they do not have to travel long distances just to submit an application. Technology is there. Technology can be used to the advantage of citizens, to enhance services and to save the public purse.
Conclusion
As I conclude, Facilitator, I want to emphasise this. The country’s failure to invest in research and development risks entrenching stagnant productivity and continued dependence on low-margin commodity exports. By systematically integrating the HSRC’s nuanced understanding of human behaviour and social conditions with the CSIR’s advanced capabilities in technological innovation, the Department of Social Development can transition from reactive, fragmented administration to a coherent, highly capable, ethically grounded, and analytically driven social protection ecosystem. This strategic alignment would not only enhance the effectiveness and responsiveness of social policy but also position the sector as a proactive driver of inclusive and sustainable development within the technological ecosystem.
Thank you, Facilitator.
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