Issued by: National Youth Commission
Noting the disturbing and unexpected venom in allegations by anonymous NYC sources in a recent article in City Press (18 January 1998), the matter was opened for discussion at this morning's National Youth Commission weekly meeting. After consideration, Commissioners and the organisation's senior management reached unanimity on the following issues.
1. There is no crisis in the Commission. The Commission is a cohesive, healthy, mutually accountable team.
2. We reject the scurrilous, ill-informed allegations by nameless "Commission insiders" as a clear act of sabotage at a key time in the commission's history as it prepares to present President Mandela with South Africa's first National Youth Policy.
3. The resignation letter of NYC Chief Executive Officer, Steve Mokwena, did not raise any of the issues reported in City Press. The resignation was of his own accord and proceeded within the bounds of Public Service stipulations.
4. Despite appropriate mechanisms of communication, accountability and problem-solving with the NYC, none of the concerns raised in the City Press article has been raised for the attention of the Commission. The issue is, for all intents and purposes, non-existent in the ongoing work process of the NYC.
5. The roles of all parties in the commission are stipulated clearly in the 1996 National Youth Commission Act. We are satisfied that this has always been and will continue to be the definitive guide to how functionaries of the Commission interact with one another.
6. In the end, all any self-respecting organisation can do is fall back on the integrity of its internal mechanisms. That these exist at the NYC is beyond dispute. We challenge our anonymous critics to come out of the shadows and submit their grievances to the transparent, publicly accountable mechanisms of the NYC.
7. We hope that in a year when South Africa's first National Youth Policy is about to be adopted and implementation of a range of innovative long-planned youth development projects begins, the NYC's work focus will not be distracted and compromised by the anonymous rantings of misinformed "insiders".
Issued by:
The Executive and Senior Management National Youth Commission 20 January 1998
For further comment on this issue, please contact NYC communications director Paul Johnson on Cell/Voicemail 082 771 8465