NYDA totalitarian youth festival: Festival report reveals extent of state support for ANCYL event

Today, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane tabled the final report of the World Festival of Youth and Students in Parliament. This report indicates for the first time both the extent of the ANC Youth League's (ANCYL's) involvement in the festival, and the size of the financial support for the event offered by the national, provincial and local governments.

In addition, it underscores the disjuncture between the outdated economic views that were debated by thousands of young South Africans who attended the festival, and the pressing need for young South Africans to become actively engaged in developing innovative, proactive solutions that can begin to address poverty, unemployment and apartheid's legacy of economic inequality.

There can be no doubt whatsoever that the World Festival of Youth and Students was an ANCYL event that used the guise of the NYDA to channel tens of millions of rands worth of state funds into its coffers. The report inaccurately states that the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) won the rights to host the festival. In fact, it was the ANCYL that ran the bid for the event.

The festival's website confirms this, stating, "For the first time in the history of the Federation, the International Consultative Meeting accepted and unanimously agreed to the bid by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) to host the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students in December 2010."

The event's itinerary featured numerous ANCYL figures, including President Julius Malema, ANCYL spokesperson Magdalene Moonsamy, Maropene Ntuli (ANCYL NEC and NWC member) and Vuyiswa Tulelo (ANCYL General Secretary).

With regards to festival financing, the report indicates that no less than 23 government sources made donations- including the Departments of Arts and Culture (R3 million) and Communication (R1 890 296), the Offices of the Premiers of the Free State, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Limpopo, and the Hessequa Municipality.

The provincial government of the DA-run Western Cape rejected the NYDA's request for financial assistance.

The expenditure section of the report goes on to state, "it must be noted that due to the interest the Festival drew from stakeholders in South Africa, including the media and political parties, greater attention was paid when processing payments." This startling statement raises serious questions about whether the appropriate financial procedures would have been disregarded altogether had the festival not received the level of publicity that it did.

The unashamed conflation of party and state that characterized this event, has also come to characterize the ANC in government. It appears that even those in the highest ranks of government- for example Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, who approved the R29 million allocated by the Presidency to this event- have little regard for managing state resources to ensure they benefit all South Africans, not just those who belong to ANC-aligned organisations. The same misuse of funds has recently been demonstrated by the National Lottery Board, which unapologetically granted R1 million to COSATU for the hosting of its 25th birthday rally.

Young South Africans are being adversely affected by the slow progress successive ANC administrations have made in improving access to opportunity. Rather than devoting more than R100 million to host a totalitarian youth event that celebrated Fidel Castro, debated outdated economic policies and conducted mock hearings in an "Anti-Imperialist Court", this government should be devoting its time, energy and political will to addressing the crisis of poverty and unemployment.

In turn, the NYDA, as the body responsible for promoting the economic development of South Africa's youth, should be devoting its resources to ensuring that the government attends to the pressing issues of poverty, low quality education and unemployment without delay.

Tomorrow, the DA Youth will attend the National Youth Convention in Kimberley arranged by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) to consult stakeholders on the draft Integrated Youth Development Strategy (IYDS). The IYDS in its current draft form appears to be a well-researched document that proposes clear solutions to the problems facing young South Africans.

This is a welcome departure from the populist rhetoric that has characterised the NYDA thus far. However, it has yet to be seen whether the NYDA will use the development of this policy to break with its history of being a vehicle for the ANCYL's agenda, and become a body that encourages the creation of opportunity for all Young South Africans.

Statement issued by Athol Trollip MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, August 4 2011

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