NYDA concerned about misleading negative statements on upcoming 17th World Festival of Youth and Students
The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has noted with concern ongoing malicious statements in some political circles on the upcoming 17th World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS/ Festival) set to take place in South Africa's capital Tshwane from 13 to 21 December 2010.
Organised by the NYDA as part of promoting South African youth participation in the global youth development agenda, the Festival has been openly communicated to the general public, government, Parliament and the media, as there is nothing untoward about it being hosted in South Africa and by the NYDA.
"However opposition political parties aided by some media have continued to report as if the NYDA did not follow correct procedures in hosting the Festival and casting doubt over the NYDA's role in organising this world festival. This is in addition to the continued reports that seek to cast doubt over the ability of the NYDA to carry out the mandate of promoting youth development as set out in the Act that established the NYDA in 2009," says NYDA Executive Chairperson Andile Lungisa.
Lungisa says this ongoing malicious reporting around the NYDA and now the Festival has continued despite ongoing efforts by the NYDA to clarify the importance and relevance of the Festival.
"We wish to reiterate, as we will continue to do whenever we feel that South Africans are being misled, that this is not a music festival or a jamboree as some have opportunistically chosen to label it. This is a festival of ideas that provides South African youth and the NYDA with increased international partnerships and networking opportunities with youth development practitioners and leaders from around the world," says Lungisa.
Through the WFYS the NYDA will be able to consolidate its own national agenda for youth development in South Africa and motivate for the inclusion of the African youth development agenda on world stage. The Festival will raise critical issues in order to impact the shaping of policies of governments and the world. Furthermore it will unite the youth of the world for peace, solidarity and social transformation to create a world free of human rights abuses and creation of sustainable environments.
As part of ensuring broad participation the NYDA and WFYS Organising Committee hosted a consultative forum with government departments, non-governmental organisations and youth formations, to allow them an opportunity to influence the focus of the festival discussions in-line with the countries developmental agenda, linked to the global agenda as defined by various charters, including the Africa Youth Charter to which South Africa is a signatory.
Discussions at the festival will follow the following themes: Right to employment, economic issues, environment and development; Public, free and universal access to education, science, culture and information; Democratic rights, freedoms and human rights and the struggle for peace, sovereignty and solidarity against imperialism.
Following submissions for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, an amount of R29 million has been confirmed for the event from the National Treasury. This money will be used to cover necessary logistical needs to ensure a successful hosting of the event including venue and catering charges.
The government of South Africa has got a responsibility to ensure the promotion and maintenance of sound international relations, solidarity and cooperation. "In addition we have requested Premiers to pay for the transportation and accommodation for their provincial representatives. We are also requesting government departments, the private sector and non-government organisations to exhibit at the Festival at nominal fees," adds Lungisa.
30,000 young people are expected at the Festival including about 15 heads of states and international and local artists, business leaders. Of the 30,000 people 15,000 are international delegates and the other 15,000 are local delegates. The local delegates will comprise provincial youth representatives from different economic, political and cultural backgrounds. The Festival will also be open to day delegates who will be able to attend as per their Festival programme selection. Youth leaders from all 153 World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) member countries including Angola, Greece, India, Morocco, Namibia, Palestine, Senegal, Spain and South Africa will also attend.
WFDY is a structure whose objective is to unite the youth of the world and mobilise them around the banner of promoting universal principles of peace, freedom and social transformation to create a world free of human rights abuses and creation of sustainable environments. The organisation is recognised by the United Nations as an international non-governmental organisation.
Doubt cast over the NYDA performance is also misleading especially in light of the organisational budget allocation; the NYDA has been allocated a budget of R369 million and not a budget close to a billion as claimed by many in newspaper reports, furthermore annual salaries of NYDA employees account for under 32% of the NYDA budget.
Despite budgetary constraints, the NYDA has been able to make several inroads in its first year of existence including receiving an unqualified audit in the 2009/2010 financial year. By March 2010 the NYDA had created and/or sustained over 25,653 jobs through the Microfinance programme against the target of 14,000; overall 56,303 jobs have been created and/or sustained through all NYDA efforts to date.
"On the backdrop of our current budgetary constraints, it should be noted that the international partnerships that will be leveraged during the Festival can assist the NYDA through either funding for our programmes or knowledge sharing on youth development in future," says Lungisa.
In the immediate future, there are also economic benefits for the country from hosting the event in terms of foreign spending in the country for the duration of the event. Youth owned business are being prioritised for the Festival procurement opportunities, which will stimulate youth economic growth.
"Because we are in touch with young people's needs and know that they require support and development we will be continuing with our youth development programmes, sourcing partnerships for the benefit of the youth as we are doing with the World Festival of Youth and Students. We are even more encouraged because the Interdepartmental Committee on Youth Affairs which sat in Pretoria today, pledged their support for the Festival as an important youth development forum," concludes Lungisa.
Statement issued by Siyabonga Magadla, National Youth Development Agency, November 23 2010
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