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This paper provides an overview of the difficulties faced by the south-African scientific system in meeting three major challenges. Two of them emerged during the period of the democratic transition (1990-1994) : that of bringing science closer to the “needs of the people” (especially the less favoured communities) and that of correcting the racial inequalities in access to scientific employment. But now, after the first decade of these new institutions (1994-2004), the most urgent need is seen as being that of increasing the size of South Africa’s scientific community. My argument in this paper will be that these three goals of meeting a social demand, developing an affirmative action and building a large national scientific community are closely interrelated. South Africa’s science system constitutes a counter-example to the “polanyian” ethics of science. Instead of a highly elitist, “free and uninterested science”, the problem of integrating science into the social fabric of the nation lies at the heart of the science policy debate. After attempting a periodization of the history of this debate, I will discuss new and innovative research funding initiatives designed to increase South Africa’s scientific population.