The Executive Chairperson, Mr Yershen Pillay
The Deputy Executive Chairperson, Mr Kenny Morolong
The CEO, Mr Khathu Ramukumba
All staff of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA)

It gives me great pleasure to address you this morning. This address and interaction with you is long overdue. This engagement was due to happen earlier in the year but circumstances on the day preventing me from attending. Nevertheless I am pleased that I am here today to engage with you.

You are all aware that there are many things said about the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) since its inception. Positive things have been said. Negative things have also been said. Within the media, negative reporting have mostly dominated the narrative about NYDA. It is important to go back to the starting point. Why was NYDA created? What was the purpose of creating NYDA? What were the expectations of the youth sector? Did we do the correct thing by creating NYDA?

Anneline Morgan, in her research dissertation, examines this question in making an assessment of youth development. After her extensive research, she concludes that government made the correct policy decision in merging the NYC and Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) to form the NYDA. Of course, her research confirms what we have been saying all along.

We have been saying that there is a particular need for the NYDA to advance seamless and integrated youth development. We did not want a youth development machinery that was fragmented. We wanted better coordination and management of youth development within the overall machinery of government. We wanted a more responsive youth development agency to the needs of young people. This was the purpose of creating the NYDA. These were the motivations and expectations from the youth sector and young people in general.

The research that I quoted earlier also concludes that the funding allocated to the NYDA was not sufficient for it to fulfil its mandate according to the NYDA Act. This is also something that we knew. In fact we have been singing the song of more funding for the NYDA since its inception.

We face tighter constraints on the national fiscus today more than any other period in our 21 year old democracy. The effects of this is felt all over government. Government departments and public entities are asked to do more with less. To create value for money. To be prudent. To spend wisely with high impact. To focus on outcomes and not only inputs.

This is being asked of the NYDA as well. Over the years the budget of the NYDA has been reduced in real terms. However the NYDA has consistently set higher targets and mostly achieved them. This important fact has not been given enough attention. And I want to applaud the NYDA for this.

I must commend the staff for their good efforts and performance. You are doing more with less and that is not an easy task. But you have taken this in your stride. You have resolved to dumbfound the critics out there by demonstrating that the NYDA can make an impact in the lives of South Africa's youth. I know that I am speaking face to face with Head Office staff today with branch staff connecting via video conferencing. But I want the branch staff to know that your front line service delivery labours are the backbone behind this solid performance.

I urge all of you, Head Office and branches, to work even harder and surpass your targets for 2015/16 as contained in your Annual Performance Plan. By doing this we will not only silence the critics but more importantly we will demonstrate to young people that we are doing our utmost to address their plight.

I must also warn you against complacency. You are dealing with the same problems and situations every day. A young person wanting a job, or a grant, or a scholarship, or career guidance or business development support services. You see these requests day in and day out. It can make you tired and complacent. Your job can become repetitive and mundane. What is even more dangerous is for you to only see the request and not the person behind the request.

After all youth development is about people, young people in particular. Policies, processes, systems and application forms are not youth development.

They are there to support youth development. They are there to help you to be more effective as a youth worker. But your interaction with young people is the determining factor. So I urge you to guard against complacency no matter how routine your job gets. See the young people behind the request. Assist them to the best of your ability, even if the request is the same every day. Always remember that for these young people, it may be their only interaction with the NYDA. That interaction must matter to them and to you.

Many eyes are on the NYDA. There are many critics making all sorts of outrageous claims about the NYDA. The most vociferous claim is that the NYDA only assists young people connected to the ruling party. Of course you know that this is not true. I visited Carwash Supreme run by a young entrepreneur called Mbongeni Msomi. He received a grant from the NYDA to start his business. In my interaction with Mbongeni, he did not display any political leanings or understanding of politics or anything of that sort. I even made the remark in the media that it is not true that the NYDA only assists politically connected youth.

I referred to Mbongeni Msomi in my remarks. Whilst you and I know that these criticisms are not true, cautiously guard against political influence. Staff actions are carefully watched by the public and can be used against the NYDA and government. So be careful.

Behave like a professional. Empathise like a youth worker. Let the public and our critics see that your agenda is very clear and very straightforward. Your agenda is to assist as many young people as possible with a professional youth development service.

I wish to commend the CEO of the NYDA. Your appointment has resulted in the development of a turnaround strategy. When this strategy was presented to me, I was pleased that it focussed on creating more efficiencies within the organisation. The successful implementation of this strategy is going to be critical in not only turning around the organisation but in ensuring that the NYDA's responds to its vision of being a world class youth development agency. CEO, continue doing the good work that you are doing with your management team and staff.

I am pleased with the performance of the current NYDA Board. They have brought good corporate governance and stability to the organisation. Through the work of the various board committees and the offices of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson, the NYDA has made important gains. Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson, I commend you on your leadership roles and I commend the board overall. Thank you for the hard work that you have put into making the NYDA an improved organisation.

I want to conclude with some remarks that I made to delegates at the National Youth Policy Consultative Conference. I conclude my address at the conference by stating a concern by stating a concern that I have. It's a concern that has been with me for a while now. We know young people to be a special type, with unique characteristics. They are vibrant. They are energetic. They are creative. They are robust. They are resourceful. They are imaginative. They are original. So my concern and my question is this: Why is it that our youth engagement and our youth programmes do not reflect these unique characteristics?

Have we become boring and unimaginative? Have we resorted to the safe and sterile? Have we put too much emphasis on the tried and tested? When I look around I see youth engagements and youth programmes, both in government and civil society, lacking vibrancy, energy and creativity. It makes our youth development stale. This is not what we want because it does not reflect the unique characteristics of being young.

So I challenge you, as I challenge myself - Lets re-Imagine youth development. Let's push the boundaries. Let's put ourselves out there. Let's embark on this journey towards re-imaging youth development. Let's take youth development to that place where it encounters and fuses with the unique characteristics of being young. We want our youth development to be vibrant, energetic, creative, robust, resourceful, imaginative and original.

Let's re-imagine youth development together.

I thank you.