IOL amongst other news agencies are running a story of government meddling in S&T (November 26 2008 at 11:56AM).

Suspended Council for Scientific and Industrial Research scientist Dr Anthony Turton said on Wednesday he had extended an "olive branch" to the organisation.

"I have no anger in my heart, I have no belligerence," he said.

"I have no interest in pursuing this to a higher level: I just want to continue doing my work as a scientist."

Turton was suspended last week after the CSIR ordered him not to deliver a hard-hitting presentation on South Africa's water crisis at a CSIR conference in Pretoria.

I have never met Dr Turton, or even heard of him. And this article certainly is not with regard to HPC. I am commenting here, because this to me is the principle of academic freedom, pure and simple. Further, the issues do touch a nerve, because other experts I know personally, and many trade organisations such as the SA Institute of Civil Engineers (SAICE) and here have been making claims for a long time as to the security of our drinking water.

He seems to be quite well published and here. I am not a civil engineer, but the volume and forums in which Dr Turton published seem quite extensive and reputable.

You can read it at the M&G or here. The article looks solid. There are certainly questionable sections - like the sensationalist Xenophobic pictures. However that is surely his prerogative. It seems that his paper was peer reviewed and accepted. The tone of the article does appear to indicate frustration and questions the wisdom of current policies. This is not wrong. Further, although he does put forward some forthright judgements, ultimately he is constructive.

There is a petition too. I signed the petition on principle.

'It's in nobody's interest to escalate'
His presentation included a plan to boost the number of scientists in the country and a new funding model for research.

The CSIR said however that some statements in the paper "could not be sufficiently substantiated".

It said it had launched an investigation after he "elected to engage with the media on the matter of the withdrawal of his presentation... in contravention of organisational policy".

Turton said on Wednesday he had obtained legal advice that he had an extremely strong case for claiming damages, but he had no desire to go to court.

He had sent the CSIR an email on Tuesday night, saying the body had attacked his credibility as a scientist through its comments on the contents of his paper.

'I don't like being in the limelight'
"I told the CSIR that if this is the foundation of your charge, the technical contents of the paper, then there is no charge against me," he said.

He had suggested they move back to a "normalised situation" as quickly as possible, as the controversy was causing enormous harm to the organisation.

"I think it's a reasonable [suggestion]," he said. "I'm not trying to escalate the thing, because it's in nobody's interest to escalate. I don't like being in the limelight."

Turton told Sapa it was not correct that he leaked his paper to the media in advance of the conference.

He had intended the paper to be a non-controversial consensus position, and for that reason had circulated it ahead of time to a wide range of scientists, NGOs and government departments.

It was one of these NGOs, not himself, who sent it to the media.

This sounds quite reasonable.

He said he was in any case an authorised media spokesperson for the CSIR on water issues, and had even undergone a CSIR course on dealing with the media.

Turton said the controversy was a distraction from the real issue: the dwindling science budget in South Africa, and the haemorrhaging of skills.

This does sound like the real issue to me.

He was trying to put in place a programme that reversed this trend and set national strategic priorities. He said he got satisfaction from serving his country, and so did the other CSIR scientists he worked with.

"I still remain a humble scientist," he said.

It was reported on Wednesday that civil society groups and NGOs have launched a petition calling for his immediate reinstatement.

CSIR spokesperson Christa van der Merwe said the organisation would not issue additional statements or comments at this stage, beyond the statement it put out last week confirming Turton's suspension. - Sapa