South Africa moves to license its scientists, with a year in jail for the unregistered

A draft South African bill dated 16 March would make registration with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) mandatory for some scientists, and would allow a sentence of up to a year in jail for practising natural scientists who do not comply ^[1][2][3]. Public comment closed in May, the bill is now headed for parliament with no date set for debate, and several senior researchers told Nature they had not known it existed ^[4][5][6].

The mechanism is not new, only the teeth. SACNASP was established in 2003 and all natural scientists in the country were supposed to register with it; many never did ^[7]. The draft repeals that 2003 legislation, clarifies the council's purpose and governance, and adds the possibility of a criminal record ^[3]. The stated aims are to "protect and promote the public interests by regulating the conduct of practising natural scientists" and "to ensure the protection of the environment" ^[8]. It would treat natural scientists as engineers and health professionals are already treated, with a compulsory register run by a statutory council ^[9].

The operational problem is the boundary. The text defines practising as "rendering of a service or provision of advice in the natural scientific profession", whether paid or free ^[10]. People who teach at a recognised educational institution, and those who develop natural-science policy for government, are exempt ^[11]. But the text does not make clear whether academics who teach or do research must register when they consult for or advise other organisations ^[12]. Read together, those clauses put unpaid advice inside the definition of practice while exempting the teaching that the same person does, and the bill does not resolve which side an academic consultant lands on ^[13]. There are also no precise details of the process for prosecuting scientists who fail to register ^[14]. A code of conduct is to be drawn up in consultation with scientists' representative organisations, which are themselves required to register ^[15].

SACNASP's acting chief executive, Matshidiso Matabane, told Nature that "our goal is not to be gatekeepers, but to professionalize the natural sciences through registration and regulation", adding that "it is our obligation to not only protect the profession itself, but the public and the environment" ^[16]. Nithaya Chetty, a physicist and dean of science at the University of the Witwatersrand, called it "a money-making scheme", said the draft "gives the SACNASP board considerable future power" and is ambiguous in its definitions, and had not heard of the bill until Nature raised it ^[17]. Lise Korsten, a plant scientist at the University of Pretoria and former president of the African Academy of Sciences, was unaware of the jail provision but supports accountability for scientists who consult, calling fraudulent "experts" a big problem for the country ^[18]. Neither is registered with SACNASP ^[17][18].

Full professional SACNASP membership costs 1,920 rand ^[19]. SACNASP referred Nature's questions about the bill to the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, which had not responded by publication ^[20].