African countries where substations of the SKA will be constructed, should the project be sited in South Africa, have confirmed their support for this project.

Representatives from Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Madagascar, Zambia and Mauritius joined the DST and SA SKA project office in South Africa on 22 and 23 April 2008 to discuss the progress on the SKA project. The Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology Dr Phil Mjwara chaired the second day of the conference, where a Declaration of Support was adopted by the partner country representatives.

This declaration covers the acquisition of sites, the protection of sites and a joint approach for acquiring funding for human capital development and the construction of dishes (as part of MeerKAT) in each of the partner states. Dr Bernie Fanaroff, SKA South Africa Project Director, emphasised that winning the bid to host the SKA will be a huge boost for skills and technology development, not only for South Africa, but also for these partner countries. It will also help these countries to progress from resource-based economies, to knowledge-based economies, in line with global trends.

The meeting took place at a conference centre near the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO). Delegates could visit HartRAO to see the prototype dish for the MeerKAT, South Africa’s demonstration telescope for the SKA.