Over the coming days and weeks, we will use every avenue available to pressure President Cyril Ramaphosa and his PR oriented government to stop paying lip service to the crushing condition of young people of South Africa and dissolve the ineffectual NYDA. 

We demand that the President move with even faster speed than it took the ANC to dissolve the Scorpions in 2008 and dissolve the NYDA on the following grounds;

• Since its inception in 2009, the NYDA has written off almost half of its budget in unrecoverable loans which amount to R1,5 billion. An equivalent amount has been paid out in salaries for performance which is nothing short of atrocious.
• There is no objective fact or statistic supporting the NYDA’s continued existence and “all there is at hand are anecdotes that the…NYDA, among others, is not visible, efficient and effective to the extent that its establishment has not been followed by specific advancements and youth development patterns.” – The Presidency’s Twenty-Year Review, 2014
• It has been used as a patronage vehicle and training ground for the ANC’s next generation of looters, many of whom have been promoted to more senior positions across the State – undoubtedly to further the ANC’s modus operandi. 

These reasons are expanded on in detail during the course of the campaign.  

Whilst we hold firm on our position that the NYDA must be dissolved, we will also be canvassing the views of other young people, across the length and breadth of the country on this matter in order to develop the alternative that will take the place of the NYDA.

We note that Parliament has finally restarted the process for the appointment of the agency’s next board, after the ANC tried to recapture the agency in the previous attempt. We also note that this is happening on the back of the process to amend the agency’s empowering legislation, the NYDA Act 54 of 2009. 

ActionSA’s position on both these processes is that neither will deliver the kinds of positive outcomes young people of South Africa desperately need, at least not whilst the agency exists as an independent juristic entity. 

We must underscore that it is a truly appalling indictment on President Ramaphosa’s government that the agency has been without leadership for almost 10 months. Sadly, this is nothing new because the previous board was also only appointed 13 months after the end of the term of their predecessors. Yet another example that the “New Dawn” was not intended for the young people of South Africa.

The ANC has shown the country many times that it cannot deliver for young people. It cannot table meaningful solutions for young people and any prospect of delivery is removed by ANC geriatrics who loot with impunity. 

The agency must be dissolved, with immediate effect. If President Ramaphosa does not ensure this, President Mashaba will get it done within the first 100 days of his term in 2024!

Issued by ActionSA