Turton suspended for inappropriate statements in media – CSIR

South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has strongly denied that it tried to “gag” one of its scientists and researchers Dr Anthony Turton, adding that he was suspended for his inappropriate statements made to the media.

The CSIR would be engaging with Turton, as early as Thursday afternoon, in an attempt to resolve the matter.

CSIR president and CEO Dr Sibusiso Sibisi said the CSIR recognised that there were very serious and urgent issues facing water resource management in South Africa, and was in no way “shying away from causing discomfort in certain quarters”.

He added that Turton was suspended because he violated his conditions of service, not because the Council sought to suppress the truth about water in South Africa.

“He [Turton] made inappropriate statements to the media. These statements are deemed by the CSIR to have brought it into disrepute, and led to his suspension pending an investigation,” the CSIR noted.

"Our reputation rests on that we are able to make credible statements, because there is a rigorous scientific foundation to the statements we make. We feel that Dr Turton has been allowing distorted facts to go out to the media," added Sibisi.

“There was nothing profound in the [research] paper, it has all been said before by scientists and even parliamentarians. Where is the revelation we were so desperately trying to hide?” questioned Sibisi.

The spat began when Turton was invited to present as one of 10 keynote speakers at a recent CSIR conference. He prepared a written paper, entitled ‘Three Strategic Water Quality Challenges that Decision-Makers Need to Know About and How the CSIR Should Respond’, which was circulated beyond the CSIR in the weeks before the conference – the CSIR had no issue with the paper.

Turton was asked to prepare a power point presentation for overhead display at the conference. It was this presentation, submitted on November 14, which was deemed to contain “inappropriate visual material”, including execution by necklacing.

There were also visuals, which the CSIR felt showed poor links between cause and effect. “For example, the depiction of a child with birth defects in several pictures, with the statement that she lived in an area affected by mining waste, and making strong inference from a single data point,” it said.

“To show a single image of a disabled person and link that to water would be irresponsible,” noted Sibisi, who emphasised that the CSIR was in the “business of science”.

He added that opinions needed to be tested, and once accurate facts were known, and could be substantiated, they would be made available.

The power point presentation was felt to have significantly departed from the paper, and this was where the CSIR’s objection was, but the reason Turton was suspended, was because of his comments to the media, which were felt to bring the organisation into disrepute.

Sibisi said that time constraints meant that adaptations to the presentation would not have been possible.

Although the rather public spat between Turton and the CSIR was viewed as “unfortunate”, it was somewhat ironic that it drew popular attention to the issue of water in South Africa, which was said by some to be teetering on critical. Serious questions have been raised in the past about skills within municipalities to manage water services, as well as the underspending on water services.