V. A. SIDOROV

Candidate of Economic Sciences

Yu. S. SKUBKO

Candidate of Economic Sciences, Candidate of Art History

Institute of Africa, Russian Academy of Sciences

Keywords: Rasigan Maharaj, Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, South Africa, science and innovation, BRICS cooperation

The Southern Africa Research Center of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted a meeting with Dr. Rasigan Maharaj, Director of the Institute of Economic Research for Innovation at the Tshwane University of Technology (Pretoria, South Africa), a participant of the XVII International Scientific Conference on Economic and Social Development (April 19-22, 2016, Higher School of Economics, Moscow).

During the conversation, issues of Russian-South African and multilateral cooperation within the BRICS framework, problems of developing science and innovation, the South African economy, and improving information exchange were discussed.

On the issues of BRICS cooperation, Dr. Maharaj noted that in order to fill the practical content of the activities of this interstate association (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), it is necessary to supplement the contacts and cooperation of official structures with the active development of people's diplomacy, mutual trips, exchanges, and joint seminars of students, postgraduates, teachers and scientists of the BRICS countries in particular, South Africa and Russia.

R. Maharaj said that until relatively recently, there were four centers for the study of Russia, Russian language and culture in South Africa. But today all of them are closed due to difficulties with funding. Meanwhile, interest in Russia is growing. He suggested creating educational and research centers for studying in South Africa and, possibly, in Russia at several leading universities and research institutions. For example," clubs of the BRICS countries", which could operate, in particular, courses for studying the Russian language and other languages and cultures of the countries of this association.

Answering the question why at the official level in South Africa they completely stopped mentioning the ten - year (2008-2018) plan of innovative development of the country adopted in 2007 by the government-Innovation towards a knowledge-based economy ("R. Maharaj confirmed the failure of this plan: "Many hopes were pinned on it, it was adopted during the implementation of the 1996 Science Development Strategy (based on the White Paper published at that time)."

"The planning of science and innovation was directed by politicians," Maharaj said,"not by scientists, and ideas such as the transition to 'hydrogen energy' have not passed the test of life."

Indeed, the long - term development of modular nuclear reactors was stopped due to high costs in 2010, after which these studies and pilot projects were successfully continued in China.

On the issue of the massive "brain drain" from the country in the 1990s, R. Maharaj noted that this was a loss for the country, although in many cases those who could not accept the loss of privileges or committed crimes during the apartheid era emigrated. He told about a case when South African doctors who had moved to Vancouver (Canada), who had conducted criminal experiments on captured resistance fighters during the apartheid years, continued their secret experiments on people already in Canada, which caused great indignation there when such facts were revealed.

R. Maharaj explained that a new, more realistic innovation development plan is being prepared to replace the unfulfilled one (Dr. Maharaj is participating in the project).

its preparation). In this regard, in particular, it is proposed to remove commercially successful applied divisions from the scientific and industrial complex of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (and other Councils) and make them private. And leave the development of fundamental science to the state, which cannot and should not be tied to the production of practical results in any given quantities. Initially, since the 1990s, programs for the development of science had the task of "increasing competitiveness".

The Institute for Economic Research on Innovation, headed by R. Maharaj, provides primary data on science, technology and innovation to the Ministry of Science and Innovation of South Africa (formed in 2004 and brought together all government organizations responsible for science and innovation).

R. Maharaj noted that food supplies to the domestic and foreign markets do not yet have a serious alternative to high-quality farms of white farmers, which are strictly focused on maximizing profits, which entails its own risks (the dominance of genetically modified crops, the cultivation of which is largely focused on commercial farming). In the past two years, due to a severe drought, South Africa has begun to import up to one - third of the corn consumed-previously it was widely exported to neighboring African countries.

To the question of Dr. Maharaj, as a representative of the Indian community, why did Indians, even during the years of apartheid, manage to "advance" socially and economically and by the 80s of the last century came close to whites both in terms of education and qualifications, and in terms of wealth, leaving other racial and ethnic groups (blacks and whites) significantly behind? The following response was received: "Indeed, the bulk of the Indian population was introduced to South Africa at the end of the 19th century. to work on the sugar plantations of Natal, and their situation was even somewhat worse than that of the Africans. But Indian communities have shown a willingness to come together and, while denying themselves many things, have managed to raise the necessary funds for children's education and English language training (only since the 1970s has the government begun to allocate significant funds for the education of the Indian population)."

R. Maharaj mentioned that out of the five generations of his ancestors since arriving in South Africa, only the first spoke almost "Indian" languages, the second - "Indian" and a little Zulu, the third - "Indian" and English, and all subsequent ones were already English-speaking.

Along the way, R. Maharaj noted that the notorious Gupta oligarch brothers from the corrupt entourage of the president of the country are not members of the Indian community of South Africa -they have Indian passports, and they came to South Africa "for easy money" in the 1990s. Their last act, according to R. Maharaj , is the purchase of uranium mines in anticipation of the implementation of the South African nuclear power development program (according to the National Development Plan adopted in 2012, in addition to one operating nuclear power plant, it is planned to build several more by 2030, which will include a total of up to eight reactors).

The program for the construction of 8 new nuclear reactors in South Africa has been adopted, but, as it turned out during the conversation, it is still not being implemented due to its high cost and the resistance of environmentalists. The cost of the program is about $50 billion, and South Africa's own funds for its financing, according to R. Maharaj, are clearly not enough, and the New BRICS Development Bank, according to him, has allocated only $2 billion of credit for the country's energy projects.

Referring to the uneven settlement and development of South African regions, R. Maharaj noted that the population is growing only in the largest and most developed province of Gauteng, while in all others it is stable or declining. In Gauteng, only a fifth of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to more than half in most other provinces. It is not surprising that the population of neighboring provinces is moving to a more prosperous and comfortable region.

The conversation with Dr. Maharaj provided first-hand information about the fate of the South African innovation development program for 2008-2018, which has created a kind of "conspiracy of silence" in the country: it is obviously not being implemented, but it has not been officially canceled, it is simply not mentioned anywhere else. The director of the Institute of Innovation admitted that the program failed, but a new one is being created that takes into account previous mistakes. In our opinion, R. Maharaj's proposal to fully develop the people's diplomacy of the BRICS countries and, in particular, to create cultural study and interaction clubs in one form or another, to expand human and professional contacts and information exchange in every possible way is of practical interest.

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