Mawande Jack

No funding will be provided to the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) by the provincial government.

The move to deny the youth structure financial support has triggered an angry from provincial chairman of the NYDA, Ayanda Matiti, who said it was akin to treating the structure established to represent the interests of young people as “street children, or foreigners to the Eastern Cape.”

Before delivering her state of the province address Premier Noxolo Kiviet told the media that there was a move to “amend the legislation” that led to the establishment of the NYDA.

“This is to clarify lines of accountability. Until that has been done, we won’t be allocating any money to the structure.”

Complaints lodged with Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe about the ineffectiveness of the agency in East London last year underlined the fact that the structure had limited financial capacity reach to the majority of the youth, particularly in the rural areas.

Matiti said the NYDA was struggling to assist those that approached them for assistance, as the structure only receives R385m from the national government. The NYDA, established by President Jacob Zuma three years ago, is still establishing itself, he said.

mawandej@thenewage.co.za