The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) this week met with Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations to brief, inform and educate the committee on the annual work of the organisation. The meeting proved to have been a necessary step and a success as it assisted in dispelling most of the inaccuracies about the ongoing work of the NYDA.
“During our presentation, most committee members including the Chairperson noted the meeting as having been an eye opener,” says NYDA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steven Ngubeni. “We were able to clearly outline, before members of the committee, all the legal parameters and the policies within which the NYDA is operating and the committee was able to relate better to the work we do,” he adds.
During the meeting the leadership of the NYDA was able to illustrate the organisational profile, its footprint as well as the opportunities and challenges facing the NYDA.
It is therefore very unfortunate to note distorted media reports that continue to depict prevailing levels of ignorance, including by some of the opposition political parties represented in the committee.
At the meeting the NYDA delegation presented a strong case backed by compelling evidence as to the reasons for a need to capacitate the NYDA with over R1 billion per annum. “In this regard we were able to point out that about 4.7 million young people in South Africa are in dire need of at least meaningful employment, skills and education.
We illustrated that with this investment we could, over a period of five years, provide information and improve awareness to 4.6 million young people, provide training and skills to 745 500 young people and provide training to train, establish and finance 221 400 enterprises. Based on the benchmarked multiplier effect of each category of development spending, these interventions could help SA realise a return on investment of R7.9 billion,” explains Ngubeni.
The nature of the meeting did not allow the committee to reject, accept nor even consider the report for a decision. Despite having made significant progress since inception in 2009, faced with the scale of South Africa’s youth-related social concerns and abound by its duty to fulfil its broad mandate, the NYDA’s current funding level has proven insufficient to make substantial impact.
By increasing the NYDA funding, the organisation will be in a position to substantially increase the depth and reach of its programmes as well as grown and manage a self-sustaining lending facility.
“It is unfortunate that at every point our request has been met with media and political hostility, with no appreciation and understanding of the case being made by the NYDA for such an increase in funding. This has led to a distortion of information,” he says.
“Going forward we hope that the media and opposition political parties will look into the factual reasons as to why the NYDA has been requesting an increase in its allocation, without being sensational about the issue,” concludes Ngubeni.
NB: The summary of the Business Case for Additional Funding is available on the NYDA website: www.nyda.gov.za.
For media enquiries contact:
Siyabonga Magadla
Cell: 083 686 9016
Switchboard: 011 651 7000
E-mail: Siyabonga.magadla@nyda.gov.za
