The silent engine of SA’s future is hiding in plain sight
- Loyiso Nongxa
Advanced mathematical sciences, from pure and applied mathematics to statistics, data science and operations, research, quietly underpin and power every modern.
When most people think of mathematics, they picture equations and formulae on a chalkboard; or high school examinations they would rather forget. Some think of advanced mathematical sciences as abstract disciplines confined to textbooks and understood only by exceptionally smart and bright people.
The latter often describe mathematics research as a hobby that they get paid to indulge in; that if in years to come their theorems find applications, that should not be interpreted as the main purpose of their work.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Advanced mathematical sciences, from pure and applied mathematics to statistics, data science and operations and research, quietly underpin and power every modern innovation. They are the language of prediction, precision, and progress. Every day the mathematical sciences are used to provide insights to, and help solve, otherwise challenging and intractable societal problems.
Globally, countries that excel in innovation ― Finland, Singapore and South Korea among them ― treat advanced mathematical sciences as a strategic infrastructure and as a national priority. In July 2025, the department of higher education and training hosted a 4-day MegaMaths Festival whose theme was that mathematics is South Africa’s 13th language; mathematics is not only the language of the natural sciences, but also the language of business and of the social sciences.
How do we design smarter energy grids for renewables integration? How do we plan efficient transportation networks that connect our industrial manufacturing and mining hubs to the coast in Gqeberha and eThekwini?
We are a nation obsessed with identifying problems and sometimes pontificate about obvious solutions. We see headlines daily: corruption and state capture, energy security and load-shedding, unemployment, and our healthcare system that is under strain. Our response, as captured in the ambitious Science, Technology and Innovation Decadal Plan, may be to pour resources into new technologies ― solar farms, vaccine research, digital startups. This is laudable, but it is not enough. We are focusing on the visible machinery of progress while overlooking or even neglecting its silent, powerful engine, namely the advanced mathematical sciences.
It is time that we recognise that the path to a prosperous, just and equitable South Africa is not just paved with good intentions or even with new hardware; it is coded in algorithms, optimised by models and secured by cryptographic proofs. All these are impossible without methodologies, techniques and tools founded on advanced mathematical sciences.
Let us be more specific. The Science, Technology and Innovation Decadal Plan is an ambitious strategy for the country. Its priorities are not just political aspirations; they are also complex, multi-variable equations waiting to be solved analytically, numerically and computationally.
The plan focuses on modernising key economic sectors, fostering growth sources like digital and circular economies, advancing health and energy innovation, addressing societal grand challenges and build an innovation-enabled state.
The plan aims to modernise agriculture in the face of a water constrained country. How? Mathematical models that use satellite data and differential equations can predict crop yields and optimise water usage, turning precision farming into reality for our rural marginalised
communities. When we speak of food security, we are talking about optimising supply chains to reduce food lost post-harvest. South African researchers have used Bayesian statistics to predict pest outbreaks, improving yields in maize farming which is a staple food for many.
When we speak of world-class infrastructure, sans potholes, we are speaking of engineering underpinned by differential equations and network science. How do we design smarter energy grids for renewables integration? How do we plan efficient transportation networks that connect our industrial manufacturing and mining hubs to the coast in Gqeberha and eThekwini?
When we speak of building an innovation-enabled capable state, we are speaking about empowering state institutions that can stem the haemorrhaging of scarce public financial resources caused by endemic corruption. Machine learning anomaly detectors scan every tender in real time; graph theory algorithms map the invisible webs linking politicians, middlemen and shell companies. Time-series forecasting spots sudden spikes in UIF payouts or SOE budgets that scream “looting in progress”. These tools have already been deployed in countries like Singapore as well as by the World Bank and could have reduced losses through state capture by at least 50%.
From the 足球竞彩app排名 pandemic, policymakers learnt a powerful lesson. The models that guided South Africa’s lockdown policies and hopefully saved thousands of lives, were not built on gut feeling or political instinct; they were built on sophisticated mathematical specialties like compartmental modelling, dynamical systems, optimal control, spatial models, stochastic processes and probability theory; and network science.
The plan envisions a robust digital economy and a shift to circularity. The mathematical sciences underpin these via algorithms, network theory and big data analytics. In digital economy, the mathematical foundations of artificial intelligence drive innovations in blockchain, and cloud computing and cybersecurity. For circular economy, mathematical modelling simulates water flows and resource loops using systems dynamics and integer programming.
The Decadal Plan is a bold vision. But a vision without deploying its fundamental tools will remain a mirage. Our country has a choice: we can continue to be consumers of technology developed elsewhere, or we can become creators and innovators. To choose the latter, we must speak the universal language of mathematics. We must appreciate and value the quiet power of the advanced mathematical sciences.
Our future resilience, our economic competitiveness and our ability to rise to the challenges of the 21st century, depends on these disciplines. We must not only incentivise publishing for its own sake or venerate those that have been privileged by global exposure; we must inculcate systemic excellence across the whole National System of Innovation.
Professor Nongxa is Wits University’s former vice-chancellor, a Professor of Mathematics and current project manager of the National Graduate Academy for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.