  The government of South Africa has identified astronomy as a field in which
their country has a strategic advantage and is consequently investing very
significantly in astronomical infrastructure. South Africa now operates a 10-m
class optical telescope, the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), and is
one of two countries short listed to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an
ambitious international project to construct a radio telescope with a
sensitivity one hundred times that of any existing telescope. The challenge now
is to produce an indigenous community of users for these facilities,
particularly from among the black population which was severely disadvantaged
under the apartheid regime. In this paper I briefly describe the observing
facilities in Southern Africa before going on to discuss the various
collaborations that are allowing us to use astronomy as a tool for development,
and at the same time to train a new generation of astronomers who will be well
grounded in the science and linked to their colleagues internationally.
