With youth unemployment at almost 60% in South Africa, the latest controversies surrounding the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) are an unfortunate setback.
Since its inception in 2009, the NYDA has been tainted by controversies. Remember the disastrous World Youth Festival in 2010, where costs ballooned, speakers didn’t pitch and delegates were famously seen playing “kissing games” and soccer instead of attending meaningful workshops?
The primary mandate of the agency, which falls under the department of women, youth and persons with disabilities, is a hugely important one: to address the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment among South African youth. Yet despite its R1bn annual budget, it has had very limited impact.
In its earlier years the agency was known for damning audit reports, board appointment disputes, political patronage and financial mismanagement. Then came a period of relative calm, and by 2024, despite lingering questions as to its effectiveness, it had achieved nine consecutive clean audits.
But 2025 saw a concerning regression.
The agency missed the September deadline to submit its annual report, only filing it on January 14. The auditor-general (AG) has found the entity to have racked up R71m in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Then there is the controversy surrounding its chairperson, Sunshine Myende, who was appointed in August last year and in December elected onto the ANC Youth League national executive committee, reigniting questions about the NYDA’s political affiliations.
At a parliamentary portfolio committee meeting on Tuesday, chairperson Liezl van der Merwe raised this as a possible conflict of interest. Committee member Sihle Lonzi was less restrained, calling the agency an “ANC campaign tool”.
Van der Merwe also raised concern about the costs of Myende’s travel, which were flagged by the AG, and allegations that the NYDA “mistreated” persons with disabilities at the ANC’s January 8 activities.
The role of the NYDA is vital. It disseminates grants for young entrepreneurs and provides skills development and job placements. Yet its impact ― even without the controversies ― is so limited that it could be seen as a token entity, much like the department it falls under.
If South Africa really wants to solve the problem of youth empowerment, it needs to do a lot better than the NYDA.
To start with, a multi-pronged strategy is required, one that focuses on building education-to-work pipelines, reducing bureaucratic red tape and involving public-private partnerships. It is a task much bigger than the NYDA, in its current form, is capable of.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.