The Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, yesterday inaugurated a new science centre housed in two old train carriages at the Matjiesfontein Transport Museum.

The science centre is intended to be part of a longer term Science and Technology Train, which Tshwane University of Technology and other stakeholders are working towards under the leadership of Dr Stoffel Fourie of the Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Science at TUT.

"The opening of the science centre brings us yet another step closer to realising our dream of making science and technology accessible to communities in rural areas that do not have access to the latest trends, or even the basics of science and technology," said Dr Fourie.

In the meanwhile, there are a number of other science and research activities taking place in the area, involving Stellenbosch University, Acer Africa, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, the Africa Earth Observatory Network, Inkaba yeAfrica (through the National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Technology) and the Matjiesfontein Education Trust, among others.

Speaking at opening of the centre yesterday, Minister Hanekom said science centres brought people and science closer together.

"Science centres such as this one at Matjiesfontein are part of democratising science and technology. The larger the number of our people who understand what science and technology development are about, the more accountable our scientists and technology experts will be. In other words, the more certain we can be that science and technology are used to address our collective needs and promote our shared interests," the Minister said.

"South Africa desperately needs a stronger science sector, and it can only have one if more people are involved in science. For all our scientific equipment and fancy technologies, fundamentally it is people who are ingenious and who innovate, not machines and not even computers. South Africa needs the ingenuity that only people can provide," he added.

The Minister noted that the Karoo was becoming an important area for science, with the Matjiesfontein Space Geodesy Observatory, which will contribute much to the understanding of the structure and evolution of the Earth, and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project.  Two weeks before, the Minister launched the first dish antenna of the MeerKAT array, the first phase of the much larger SKA project, which will take over a decade just to build, and will be useful to scientists for years to come.

Minister Hanekom said that he hoped that many young people from the area would step up to replace older scientists at the facilities as they retired.  He encouraged the young people attending last night's event to use the science centre as a window to the world, learning how the world worked and discovering the joys of science and technology.  He said that studying science and technology would greatly increase their career opportunities.