The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) being launched on Tuesday seems set to repeat the mistakes of previous government youth initiatives, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said.

"The DA would like to give the NYDA a chance, and we will be watching them very closely to determine whether they use their R1-billion budget of taxpayers' money to promote opportunities for youth generally, or merely to become yet another feeding trough for the ANC," Zille said in a statement.

The agency, the result of a merger of the National Youth Commission and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, was established to create and promote co-ordination in youth development issues.

Zille also criticised the appointment of Andile Lungisa, the deputy president of the African National Congress Youth League, to chair the NYDA.

"This immediately positions the organisation as a partisan political structure, rather than an organisation committed to the development of all young people."

She added that it had been reported that DA-aligned youth would be excluded from the agency.

"If this is the approach, the NYDA will merely be another patronage agency to advance the selective interest of ANC cadres, and will be doomed to failure."

DA shadow minister for Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities Denise Robinson added her comments in a separate statement on Youth Day, saying there were new heroes among young people growing up in post-apartheid South Africa.

"The learner who studies diligently, despite the failings of the education system and who matriculates and makes it to the tertiary level... can be regarded as a hero.

"So too can the young streetwise entrepreneur, who with canny foresight, discerns the needs of others and delivers a service to the community."

She said the work of those youth who fought against apartheid needed to be acknowledged.

"However, the greatest gift of gratitude one can give, is not blaming the past for inadequacies but using the opportunities now available, to create a better quality of life for the future, through honest, hard work and respect for one's fellows."

DA national youth spokesperson Khume Ramulifho said the education system in a democratic South Africa still held restrictions.

He said under apartheid, black students were oppressed by the bantu education system.

"Today young people are similarly restricted and oppressed by a schooling system ranked last out of 40 countries -- according to the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study."

He also said strikes in the education sector had to stop and more resources needed to be provided to schools.

"We need a new education system in South Africa, and it will take people with the courage of their convictions to build such a system.

"Still, we must be reminded that as a result of the sacrifices of the past, South Africa today is free and democratic - and for this reason there is no built-in obstacle to the achievement of these goals."