NYDA brings additional capacity on board

1 Jul 2011

As part of strengthening its internal capacity and ability to deliver on its mandate, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has brought on board a group of skilled young people as its Executive Managers (EMs). The newly appointed EMs bring with a wealth of experience and expertise, which will boost the NYDA's capacity to effectively implement its mandate. The new EMs who officially started duty during Youth Development Month are expected to also introduce new ideas in line with the mandate of the NYDA. 

Youth unemployment continues to be one of the pressing issues confronting South Africa in the second decade of democracy, resulting in government setting up dedicated structures and programmes to address the challenge. This investment in additional skills and capacity will contribute largely in making a difference within the NYDA as it looks set to intensify the implementation of the broad agenda of developing young people. This will become evident when we assess the progress and performance of the NYDA at the end of the financial year.

Sections 16 a and b of the NYDA Act state that the Chief Executive Officer must in consultation with the Board, appoint Executive Managers of the NYDA, which may include a Chief Operations Officer and a Chief Financial Officer; and appoint staff to assist the organisation in carrying out its functions. However due to budgetary constraints since June 2009 the NYDA had only appointed the Chief Executive Officer and was working with acting Chief Operations and Chief Financial Officers.

The process for the appointment of the new recruits was transparent and involved competency assessments by independent assessors and interviews with external panellists including from The Presidency, National Treasury, Department of Public Service and Administration, Government Employees Medical Scheme, Quest (a recruitment company) and an independent Human Resource Specialist. The geographic representivity, qualifications, age and experience of the candidates were considered in the appointment process.

In-line with the restructuring process aimed to boost its capacity to deliver, the NYDA has also combined some of its divisions to allow for the needs of young people to be evaluated holistically and force deliberate integration of services offered. This includes the integration of two business units, business development services and enterprise finance into one Economic Development unit.

Since its establishment two years ago the NYDA has made progress in improving the lives of young people, including approving R66, 7 million worth of loans to young entrepreneurs and sourcing business opportunities worth over R134, 6 million through the Business Opportunities Support Service (a target exceeded by 250% in the 2010/11 financial year). The organisation has also provided career guidance to over 444, 000 young people (a target exceeded by over 11%) and trained 152, 377 young people including 84, 644 trained through the National Youth Service programme (a target exceeded by 33% in the 2010/11 financial year). In addition 60, 712 jobs (a target exceeded by 18, 2% in the 2010/11 financial year) have been sustained through various NYDA programmes including the entrepreneurship and skills development programmes.

The profiles of the newly appointed EMs, Chief Operations and Chief Financial Officers are available on the NYDA website: www.nyda.gov.za.

Chief Financial Officer: Khathutshelo Mike Ramukumba

Born in Tshifundi village, Venda in the Limpopo Province, Khathutshelo Mike Ramukumba attended high school at Mphandeli High School. He obtained a BCom Financial Accounting Degree with University of Pretoria where he was also a Radio Presenter for the campus radio station, Tuks FM. In 2009 he completed the Public Practice Examination (Second Board Examination with Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors) and was admitted as a CA (SA) by SAICA in 2010.

He served his articles with the Office of the Auditor General South Africa head office in Pretoria between 2003 to 2006. In 2006 joined the Ellerines Holdings Group as Financial and Compliance Auditor. He later joined the Rand Water Group at the end of 2006 and served in various position with the last position held being Group Internal Audit Manager. His career highlights include being involved in two ministerial directive projects on turnaround strategy and support for Botshelo Water in 2009 and Bushbuckridge Water in 2010/11.

Khathu is passionate  about youth development and as a results continues to serve in various leadership positions within various youth organisations focusing on issues of young people across the board including as the Chairperson of Youth against Crime at Vhumbedzi District in Vhembe Region in Limpopo from 2002 to 2003.

Chief Operations Officer: Madgalene Moonsamy

Society's scales need the poor masses on both sides not the rich minority on one. Remain committed to the cause of fighting for the most vulnerable in society, women, young girls, the situation of young people and the poor. Moonsamy has always been an activist for defeating all forms of oppression.

She continues to serve in various developmental portfolios at the level of policy development and research and has interacted at both a political level and interventions from government.

Critical to the roles played domestically and internationally she has engaged in the International Union for Socialist Youth and served in numerous international delegations. She has an LLB degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and has acquired a certificate in Cultural diversity from the University of Tubingen. She believes in service and humility in all things done for the building of a harmonious society free of oppression and any form of suffering.

The motto by which she lives is to ensure that the urgency with which things must be done should always be now so that we see greater change sooner. She frequently addresses issues on numerous platforms. She brings to the NYDA years of experience in youth development at a strategic, operational and strategic level. Her strengths is her commitment to integrity and accountability. 

Acting Executive Manager: Service Delivery Channel
Daniel Van Vuuren 

A law graduate from the University of the Free State, he started his career by serving articles of clerkship with Rossouws Attorneys. He subsequently joined the office of The Presidency where he was one of the architects of both the legislative environment and policy framework governing youth matters. While at The Presidency, he was a national youth commissioner, responsible for youth policy development, legislative review and inter-governmental co-ordination, particularly within the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster. Daniel has also worked in Europe and the Middle East in various advisory roles to foreign governments and public institutions. During his tenure in The Presidency he represented the South African government in different bi-national and multi-national fora and addressed diverse international conferences on invitation.

Acting Executive Manager: Corporate Partnerships
Mzwabantu Ntlangeni 

Mzwabantu Ntlangeni previously worked for the National Development Agency (NDA) as a Programme Manager. He was previously involved with a transitional funding institution, the Transitional National Development Trust (TNDT) before the formation of the National Development Agency where he held various positions including general manager. At the NDA he was appointed Programme Manager and was responsible for the overall management of the grants portfolio, before joining UYF in 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University.

Executive Manager: National Youth Service and Skills Development
Nthuseng Mphahlele nee Tsoinyane

Nthuseng Mphahlele holds an M.Sc in Development Planning from the University of the Witwatersrand and a BA in Economics from the National University of Lesotho.  She has more than 14 years of development sector experience having worked in both the public and civil society sectors, specifically in youth development, housing and infrastructure, local government, environment, gender and poverty.

Her previous notable achievements include being a member of the Task Team responsible for developing poverty alleviation strategies for the Lesotho government.  At the Urban Sector Network, she was involved in the development of guidelines for the implementation of the National People Housing Process. She was part of the research team that investigated and made a report to the Municipal Demarcation Board on configuration of metropolitan municipalities. Between 2005 and 2011 she was responsible for overseeing the work of the National Youth Service Unit in the social, environment and infrastructure sectors.  She has a strong interest in gender and poverty issues and strongly advocates the participation of women and youth in the Built Environment.

She represented the youth sector in the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Infrastructure Cluster and successfully conceptualised the National Youth Service Building Maintenance Programme - a model that is now implemented nationally.

In her current position at the National Youth Development Agency, Ms. Mphahlele has been mandated to oversee the implementation of the National Youth Service and Skills Development Programmes, facilitating the mainstreaming of youth development across government and fostering partnerships with civil society and the private sector to increase development opportunities for young people.

Executive Manager: Research and Policy
Siviwe Mkoka 

Siviwe Mkoka launched his professional career in academia as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Cape Town's Faculty of Health Sciences in 2002. He was identified as a young researcher with potential in health sciences and by 2004, he had published scientific research papers in local and international peer reviewed journals.

He also presented papers at conferences locally and abroad including in Barcelona, Spain, Dar es Salam, Tanzania, Leeds University in the United Kingdom and Lusaka, Zambia. In 2004, he completed a Master's degree, which focused on health outcome measures and public policy. He later upgraded it to a PhD programme that he will complete in 2012. He spent two months at Leeds University being trained in academic research and lecturing postgraduate students.

In 2007, Siviwe joined the Gauteng Department of Health as manager responsible for strategic policy management, research and in part, strategic planning. While here he successfully managed a range of key strategic projects. He helped improve the institutional arrangements for strategic policy management, and was part of the team that developed the 2009 to 2014 Strategic Plan for the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development. He also managed the project for development of the Service Transformation Plan (STP) 2010 to 2020 which is a long-term service delivery plan for the Gauteng Health Sector. This plan together with the province's other plans will serve as the basis for the planning and implementation of the National Health Insurance System (NHI).

Siviwe has obtained formal qualifications in strategic public policy management and general management in the public and development sector from various universities in South Africa, amongst others Wits University, University of South Africa (UNISA) and the University of Pretoria. He is currently completing a Masters of Management (Public Policy) Programme at Wits University.

Executive Manager: Economic Development
Tamari Tlangelani Mavasa

Tamari Tlangelani Mavasa, holds Master's degree in Built Environment specializing in Property Economics and Valuations, Degree in Quantity Surveying and a National Diploma in Building Science.

She worked with the mines as project implementer, Eskom Generation and Distribution, Municipal Offices as Senior Programme Manager and various Government departments as an Advisor.  Her vast experience allowed her to render services as a Quantity Surveyor, programme manager, contracts manager, and property manager for the past 12 years.

Her accomplishment in projects includes corporate development, skills transfer, providing mentorship to business enterprises and financial management and providing training. 

Executive Manager: Corporate Services
Vincent Mulaudzi

Vincent Mulaudzi started his career in 1997 as a Teacher/Lecturer and taught for five years at Technical Colleges including Lazarus Nhlapo Technical College in Tembisa,  Soshanguve Technical High School and Johannesburg Technical College facilitating Computer subjects.

He then moved to the corporate sector where he worked for Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Tembisa Hospital, Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality (Groblersdal) and Emalahleni Local Municipality (Witbank) as Middle Manager in IT and Administration. Before joining the NYDA, he worked for the Insurance Sector Education & Training Authority (INSETA) as Corporate Services Manager.

He holds a National Diploma in Public Management and Administration, a National Higher Diploma in Education, and a B. Tech Post-School and Record Management Certificate.  He is reading towards obtaining a MBA with MANCOSA.

He is a corporate member of the Black Management Forum and PSIRA.  He remains passionate about education and served the community as an School Governing Body member for Betrams Primary School, Eastgate Primary School, Mvelaphanda Primary School and Queens High School.

Statement issued by the NYDA, July 1 2011

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