Chairperson of the Transitional Accounting Authority of the NYDA, Dr. Ntsiki Tshayingca-Mashiya
Chief Executive Officer of the NYDA, Mr Khathu Ramukumba
Branch Manager for the Tshwane NYDA branch, Ms Motlalepule Monja
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen;
This year marked 40 years since the brave young people took to the streets demanding equality and quality in education. We celebrated the 40th anniversary of June 1976 by asking “what would you say to the class of 1976 today?’. Through this campaign the class of 76 received many messages of gratitude from the youth of 2016.
Today we are here to celebrate the second clean audit that the National Youth Development Agency has received. This is not just a clean audit but testimony that the sacrifices of the class of 76 were not in vain. We therefore dedicate this milestone to Tsietsi, Hector, Seth and all of the unsung heroes and heroines of 1976.
Today education is a reality for South Africa’s youth. While we take a journey towards free quality public education, we urge young people to work together with government to find an immediate solution while working towards the long-term solution.
We urge students to remember that destroying what has been built only takes us back and only prolongs the road towards the reality of free education even further. Let us not burn our libraries and intimate our fellow students in our mission to achieve free public education.
At a similar occasion marking the achievement of the first ever Clean Audit of the NYDA, We commended the safeguarding of the resources allocated for youth development. We were confident that that was the beginning of many many Clean Audits to come. We remain confident in the dedication and commitment of the leadership and staff of the NYDA.
Most importantly we believed in the vision and the path to traverse in making the NYDA a capable and credible institution central to the implementation of youth development programmes in South Africa.
Performance:
A great deal of today’s press briefing lies in the fact that the NYDA has maintained the clean audit, but for government a cause for celebration is the achievement of the its highest performance, ever. Since its establishment the NYDA has reached the highest performance of 96%. This simply means that the NYDA has performed optimally on its mandate. It ultimately means that more lives of young lives have been transformed for the better through its products and service of the NYDA.
A critical assessment of the continuing good work of the NYDA should be made against the backdrop of the limited and almost constant budget. In the 2013/14 financial year, the NYDA received R392 million; then in the 2014/15 only R408 million was allocated. Government in the 2015/2016 financial year increased this allocation by only a million rands to R409 million.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Allow me to take you through some of the highlights of this performance in the last financial year:
· On health and well-being, 241 000 young people participated in campaigns and special projects of the NYDA.
· More than a million (1, 079, 139) young people were supported through individual and group career guidance interventions; this means over 140 000 more young people have benefitted from this service when compared to 2013/2014.
· In 2013 the Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund was established, and only 236 received the funding to further their studies. In 2015/16 a total of 406 were supported financially across South Africa. The first group of students from this fund will be graduating this year.
· `61 392 young people have been supported through life skills training, job preparedness, and jobs placement programme.
· 14 907 young people have enrolled in the National Youth Services Volunteer Programme
· 4736 young people have been enrolled in the Second Chance Matric Rewrite Programme.
· 63 412 young people received NYDA non-financial business development support services.
· More than 3 600 jobs have been created and sustained through grant funding, co-operatives and business development services since 2013.
Access:
Young people emphatically told us that they demand a hand-up and not a hand-out. Taking a lead from this, the NYDA continues to expand its reach through effective full service branches and establishing of local youth offices. As part of marking 40th anniversary of the June 16, 1976 uprising; the NYDA launched another full service branch in Thulamela in Limpopo. As part of the DPME’s monitoring programme I recently paid a visit and can confirm that youth development in that area is on course.
Governance:
I am greatly excited about the implementation of the Agency’s Turn Around Strategy (TAS) that has assisted in steering the organization to new levels in terms of performance. Following the successful implementation of the restructuring process the salary wage bill has been reduced by 25%, resulting in more funds being directed towards youth development.
The report by Statistics South Africa on Vulnerable Groups vindicated government and NYDA’s call for all sectors of society, the private sector in particular, to play a meaningful role in youth development. In its endeavor to do more with less the NYDA has managed to mobilise and leverage from third parties or donors. A total of R107 896 883 million value in resources and funds has been raised. A clean audit is certainly an indication that the Agency had the governance mechanisms to take care of donor funds. We call on all sectors of society to partner with the NYDA and government to advance youth development.
Governance continues to be the focal point of the executive of the NYDA. There has been massive improvements that have been achieved in the areas of financial management, performance management, performance information reporting and compliance as required by the law (PFMA).It gives me great pleasure to note that the NYDA has managed to reduce irregular expenditures from R133 million in 2011/2012 to only R256 000 in 2015/2016. We are confident that all irregular expenditures will be eliminated in the next financial year. This simply means that in the past four years more young people benefitted from better governance.
During the youth month, I had the opportunity to meet many young people who are beneficiaries of the NYDA products and services. I was particularly touched by Ntokozo Nkwanyana, a young lady from Soweto who received assistance from the NYDA when she was on the verge of closing her grocery shop because it was running at a loss. Upon receiving a hand-up from the NYDA, she expanded her business and now owns a chisa nyama and her grocery shop is a thriving business which employs other young people.
This is but one testimony of the many that are being told by young people daily. We call on the media to seek these young people and use their platforms to tell these stories of hope and triumph.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the NYDA continues to be a powerful institution accessible to all the youth of South Africa to take advantage of and secure a better life for themselves and the country.
On behalf of government we commend the previous Board’s commitment and visionary leadership that led to the number of flagship programmes and a new vision for the NYDA which can safely say its achievable: a credible and capable development agency for South Africa’s youth.
Lastly I would like to thank the Transitional Accounting Authority who have been holding the fort while the process to appoint a new board for the NYDA is ongoing in Parliament.
I thank you
