Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 25 November 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1255
News
South Africa suspends water scientist
Anthony Turton may be dismissed after speaking to journalists about a controversial presentation.
A South African water expert could face dismissal after criticizing his employer for failing to address a looming water crisis in the country.
Political scientist Anthony Turton, a fellow of the country's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was suspended after telling journalists about the council objecting to a presentation he was meant to deliver last week.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email redesign@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.
It reminds the scandal of treatment of Aids with traditional treatments like garlic, lemons and beetroots, instead of championing anti-retroviral drugs. But on the other hand NASA tried to silence Jim Hansen. So the difference between SA and USA is not so big.
Fact of the matter is South Africa's envisioned economic growth is just a fizz and will remain so until something serious happens. Water is one such problem, but the failure to come-up with reliable reliable energy business models for intergration of, as an example, grid tied PV systems, as part of energy planning and efficiency processes. So the list is endless, water, energy, health, public transport (lack there-of), etc, etc, ... the list is endless.