DA to champion youth activists’ petition to stop ANC-sponsored NYDA board appointments

11 August 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has received a petition signed by more than 800 youth activists opposing the politically compromised National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) board recommendations.

We are proud to champion this cause and sponsor this petition in Parliament as we too believe that the majority of those candidates on the shortlist show how unfair, biased, discriminatory and unconstitutional the process to appoint them was and that they are not representative of South Africa’s youth.

The petition has already been submitted to the President, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). The DA will sponsor the petition for urgent discussion in Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.

On Monday, the DA revealed a letter by the ANC National Youth Task Team (NYTT) convener, TandiMahambehlala, to the ANC deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte, that proves that the final recommendations for the NYDA board were pre-determined by Luthuli House.

Clearly, the nomination and appointment process of this board was just a box-ticking exercise for the ANC in Parliament.

NYDA, like countless other legitimate state institutions, has been eroded by the ANC’s cadre deployment scam in order to legally loot public funds.

The entity has wasted billions of rands since its inception with nothing to show but the enrichment of a few handpicked cadres who will continue to pursue their own stomachs above the well-being of the country with their new-found looting skills.

If South Africa is ever to rise above its myriad of socio-economic problems, cadre deployment must be wiped from the public institutions meant to service all South Africans. Expertise and merit should not be allowed to be overshadowed by political affiliation any longer.

The DA stands with the brave young activists that signed the petition to ask that the NYDA board appointment process be dismissed and dissolved. This is an excellent opportunity for the ANC that was so “shocked” by the Covid-19 corruption to put their money where their mouths are: ensure a fair board appointment process at NYDA.

Issued by Luyolo Mphithi, DA Shadow Minister of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, 11 August 2020