Between 2004 and 2019, the office was called the minister of science and technology.

On 28 April 2004, announcing his second cabinet, President Thabo Mbeki birfucated that portfolio, creating the new minister of science and technology, alongside a minister of arts and culture.

[1] When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his second-term cabinet on 29 May 2019, he announced that the Ministry of Science and Technology would be absorbed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Training, creating the enlarged portfolio of the new minister of higher education, science and technology.

[2][3] However, Ramaphosa reversed the merger in his third cabinet, announced on 30 June 2024;[4] the independent post was re-established, now called the minister of science, technology and innovation.

[5] This article about South African government is a stub.