NYDA 2019/20 Quarter 1, 2 & 3 performance; with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

Opening Remarks

The Chairperson began by discussing the process of appointing new board members for the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). The date for public comments was extended to 29 February 2020. She explained that the interview process may begin in April 2020. Due to the voluminous nature of the applications, the applications would not be printed but be uploaded onto a server and a link would be sent to Members to view the applicants and the public comments.

The public comments are for the Sub-Committee to use their own discretion on whether to consider an application. The lack of public commentary would not affect a person’s application. It is an open process, in order to allow transparency. The applications are made in terms of parliamentary processes.

Pre-discussion

Mr L Mphiti (DA) spoke with regard to the NYDA process, on what are the rules in regard to campaigning and lobbying and does it affect the application process. There is a public view that campaigning will assist candidates.  

The Chairperson responded that the social media campaigning does not affect the process and will not influence their decisions. They have a criterion by which they will abide as per parliamentary processes. Members also need to avoid being lobbied because Members who are lobbied will be disqualified from the selection process and the Member will be subjected to the Ethics Committee of Parliament.

Ms F Masiko (ANC) said that it is healthy competition to request other young people to endorse them. However, it will not affect the process. It becomes a problem when Members of Parliament get involved in that process of endorsing certain applicants.

The Chairperson addressed the issue of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and how traumatic it is because it does not stop. Every day a woman is killed, a child is killed or abducted. The Committee had issued a statement on the murder of Tazne van Wyk. Some of the perpetrators were repeat offenders who had been let out on parole and then committed the same crime again. Women are not free. Women are not sex objects. Women are vulnerable, even in their homes.

The interim steering committee needed to come to make a presentation on their draft strategy. It seemed as though awareness campaigns were not affective. The Committee should do introspection on how Parliament will deal with feminicide and GBV.

Ms NSharif (DA) thanked the Chairperson for being decisive when she had approached the latter regarding the Tazne murder. She also addressed the abuse of women in the face of relationships where the spouse was a law enforcement officer, a dynamic which makes it difficult for the women to report the abuse or leave the relationship because of fear.

Ms T Mgweba (ANC) added that the perpetrator of Tazne’s murder had recently received parole. The Committee should also note how parole processes are managed. She also spoke of the murder of Yonela (a young man who was murdered by his girlfriend at the University of Fort Hare). The murder had been taken lightly, in that the lady had received bail of R1 000 and could then carry on with her studies. She also emphasised how problematic it was that the accused could continue with her life as though nothing had transpired whilst the parents of the victim, who are disadvantaged in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape had been adversely affected. The Committee also needed to follow up on that case.

Ms N Sonti (EFF) addressed various incidences of rape and murder in rural areas where law enforcement was not dominant, and the community wanted to deal with it on its own by wanting to pay off the women to not open a case.  

The Chairperson suggested that Members extend an invitation to the chairperson of the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) to do a presentation on its report regarding forced sterilisation for the Committee.  

Ms Masiko added that the CGE was reporting on findings regarding cases of forced sterilisation in hospitals in Gauteng and KZN. The Minister of Health had also invited CGE to also present to him on these findings.

Analysis by Researchers of Parliament

Ms Kashifa Abrahams, Committee Content Advisor, explained that the NYDA will be reporting on Q1 – Q3. The focus will be on Q3, but background is necessary to see how it has been performing. NYDA has amended its Annual Performance Plan (APP). In relation to the CGE report, the CGE noted that it was still busy with the report and the report has been finalised.

Ms Tasneem Matthews, Committee Researcher, went through the analysis on NYDA’s Quarterly Report 2019/2020, highlighting matters of concern in the report for the NYDA. She brought to the attention of the Committee that the documents were only sent to them the Friday which was a very short period for them to analyse the documents considering that the meeting is on Tuesday. Documents must be sent well in advanced in order to allow Members the opportunity to properly scrutinise the documents.

She added that there are several targets that were not met, i.e. reasons were because they were unable to repeat resources. One of the points highlighted was young people being placed in vacancies but NYDA was unable to verify those facts in their report.  

Mr Mphiti asked whether looking at previous quarters would bring clarity to the progress in quarter 3.

Ms Mathews continued to bring light the various inconsistencies and lack of clarity in the various programs that the NYDA had set out to achieve.

The Chairperson added that when the Committee does oversight work, it checks whether the NYDA is performing in terms of the APP the entity had previously presented. It seemed that there was a lot of confusion around the APP and the report that has been presented to the Committee.  

Ms Abrahams clarified that the report of the NYDA was vague in terms of properly detailing its expenditure on programmes it had set out in its APP. The request was that when the NYDA is presenting its financials it must do it according to its APP.

Ms Mathews added that the numbers did add up in terms of its budget; however, it was unclear where some money was allocated or how it had been allocated in relation to its APP. She also indicated that the NYDA had underspent on National Youth Service, research and policy and that it was important to understand why that may be especially because the President had flagged the National Youth Service in the State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Mr Mphiti flagged the previous issues the Committee had raised with the NYDA with regard to the organogram and the CEO and chairperson having drivers. The financial controls in its presentation were not in line with the APP. Furthermore, how is it being financially responsible over the donations it receives? How is it being regulated?

The Chairperson responded to the query of regulations, explaining that they needed to follow National Treasury and Department of Public Service and Administration regulations when they are allocating funds.  

Ms Abrahams raised the point of supply chain management as to what guided officials of NYDA in supply chain management because they were planning to implement a policy only in 2021. The content of the report was more important than actually providing a report that did not comply with guidelines set. How was the board taking decisions if it was not quorate? How was NYDA working with other departments that also had projects relating to youth in order to ensure that the fiscal is maximised. What was the nature of the partnerships it has with national, provincial and municipal structures of government?

The Chairperson added that the Committee needed to enquire from the DWYPD what its role is in terms of young people, specifically outside the NYDA.  

Ms Abrahams continued to add that the NYDA has not mentioned anything about a draft youth policy, it’s not in its research program. Who is responsible for the amendment of the NYDA Act? There is nothing mentioned about work on reviewing the NYDA Act in the Q3 report. How is the NYDA dealing with corruption, within the organisation, since it does not have a supply chain management policy?

In terms of its partnerships with other departments in national, provincial and local government, the NYDA need to be more specific as what its role is and not piggyback off the efforts of a specific department. And how the NYDA directly impacts the youth as opposed to assistance with facilitation with another department. Is the NYDA actually meeting those targets or is it its partnerships that are meeting those targets?

Why was it put across as though the Higher Education and Training HIV/Aids Support Programme (HEAIDS) is as an NYDA project when it was a non-governmental organisation working with the Department of Higher Education?

The Chairperson said that there needed to be a separation of issues the Department was responsible for and the issues the NYDA had to account for.

Ms Masiko requested that the researchers search what the budget is for the youth component in the department.

NYDA Presentation

Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize (Deputy Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, informed the Committee that the Department was working on updating its shareholder compact between the Department and the NYDA. The compact will stipulate the roles and responsibilities of the NYDA and the Department. It will adhere to the applicable legislation such as the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and NYDA Act. They were a transitional executive authority. They were still working on the transitional arrangement.

The Deputy Minister gave a briefing to the Committee that the NYDA had already briefed the Auditor- General about the board not quorating and about how it operated in that situation. The NYDA received guidance from the Auditor-General regarding this matter. The National Treasury was set to give a response on the interim accounting authority for NYDA based on section 49(3) of PFMA.

The NYDA had amended its APP after a request from the Portfolio Committee which resulted in targets related to finance, supply chain management and human resources. The APP 2020/21 of the NYDA needed to be amended to be in line with performance agreement signed by the Minister and the President is in the process of finalising it.

The Chairperson objected to the absence of the other board members of NYDA considering the crisis the youth in the country was facing.

Mr Mphiti conceded that it was a shame that the board members were absent who are expected to be present in these meeting because they had a responsibility to young people in the country. What example were they setting for the new board?

Ms Masiko added that the Committee had only seen the other board member once. The members need to report in advance when they are unable to attend meetings. She added that this also displayed an image of the commitment towards the work of the youth.

The Chairperson added that one of the criteria the Committee electing the new board should look into is applicants who were not part of other boards in order to ensure their full commitment.

Mr Sifiso Mtsweni, Executive Chairperson: NYDA, began his presentation with a quotation from Nelson Mandela. He stated that the last three quarters had been challenging for the NYDA. There had been no irregular expenditure in the last three quarters. The issue had been the quarterly reports and the Performance Management Development System, wherein the institution had to meet its obligation to its employees.  This was the last year of the process of National Youth Policy adopted in 2015. The new Youth Policy was being developed in conjunction with the Department. It would also ensure that policy extends further than five years to meet the 2030 deadline in line with the National Development Plan. The NYDA Act was in the process of being amended. The amendment Act seeks to close gaps from the previous Act.

The targets that had been met were in line with planned activities. All targets should be met at 75% in the third quarter. Young people in the Central Karoo and Garden Route now had a NYDA office to create universal access. Parliament mandated the NYDA to integrate various groups of young people specifically in agriculture. The NYDA had made a deal with Brazil to supply meat and crops to a province in Brazil. NYDA served as chair of BRICS Youth Council; part of the agreement of that youth council was to create economic links between the various countries. The most fruitful out of those had been the South Africa and Brazil relationship. NYDA working with the Department of Rural Development and Agriculture had sent 12 young people to Brazil to open markets. In a few weeks NYDA would be meeting up with the Russian Youth Federation to create new working relationships. It had developed specific programmes on gender-based violence and on young people with disabilities. In addition, it was running programmes in townships that are related to gender-based violence.  The President announced during SONA, the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention that would deal with unemployment. The Presidency had announced a six-point plan. Some of the aspects of that plan included a project management office, that had been opened in the office of the President which would ensure that departments and various institutions that are working with youth are aligned and are coordinated.  The President had initiated a programme for 1 000 entrepreneurs in 100 days; the programme would adopt the NYDA process of funding

The Small Business Development Corporation and NYDA are making a contribution to ensure that 1 000 young people are reached within the next 100 days. This is a pilot programme that eventually wants to target 100 000 young people in South Africa, where the vision is that each entrepreneur creates 10 jobs. The 1000 in 100 days project has its own criteria, wherein those entrepreneurs must show job creation capacity.

NYDA has a programme that targets matric students in rural areas, supporting them with resources and 4 of those students from those schools where part of the top achieving students in the country and one of them has been registered at the University of Cape Town to study actuarial science.

Mr Waseem Carrim, CEO, NYDA, presented on the 1-3 quarters 2019/20, The report touched on the situational analysis of the agency, a reflection on the amendments to the APP 2019/20, details on the performance report and financial report and looks into the commitment made during the SONA, reflects on the partnership report, responds to questions about health challenges in the higher education sector and lastly provides insight on the work the NYDA does.

Mr Thami Mkhwanazi, CFO, NYDA, discussed the financial aspect of the NYDA presentation which outlined its spending and also the amount it had been allocated to spend including donor funding.  

Discussion

The Chairperson enquired from the Department what the programmes were that they are embarking on separate from the NYDA - as a Department, they have a role to play

Ms B Maluleke (ANC) commented on the late submission of the paperwork stating that it did not set a good precedent. Firstly, how does the NYDA function because the quarterly reports were not really in line with what it had presented. On page nine (quarterly reports to be produced), the year target is four but for quarter 1,2 nothing had been mentioned until the 3rd quarter. Were all the targets met in the 3rd quarter? Secondly, a number of youth-owned enterprises received grant funding. Would it be possible for the Committee to be furnished with details of those enterprises, so that the Committee may understand under which area they fall? Regarding the partnership with HEAIDS whereby they have partnered in education, health, etc. what was the role of the NYDA in this programme with HEAIDS?

Ms Sonti had queries on the analysis 2020 document, on funds raised and the donation of R13 million  by Coca-Cola to support spaza shops, additional to which was the donation from the Department of Small Business Development of R8.4 million that goes to braais. She wanted to receive clarity on whether these could not be allocated elsewhere other than spaza shops, or whether a portion thereof be allocated elsewhere.

Ms T Masondo (ANC) had a query on programme two where a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) was delayed because printing material was not available on time. Why were printing materials not available on time? NYDA noted that schedule three had been obtained from all the centres but the target would be met by 28 February 2020; would the deadline be met in the next three days? Secondly, in quarter three, it was mentioned that 1 938 jobs were facilitated through job placement; where had the placements been made and what was the process to ensure placement has been made?

Ms Mgweba said that in programme one there were four KPIs, where two had been met and two had not been met. One has been identified as not being met; what is the other one? Secondly, on research and policy, the programme has four KPIs, wherein three have been met and one not met, which is impact of evaluations conducted. Can the NYDA explain to the Committee which provinces have not had evaluations conducted. Thirdly, the executive chairperson touched on the Act being reviewed, when should the Committee expect a progress report?

Regarding finances, there was R25 million that would come from the Department of Small Business Development; how is the NYDA mobilising those businesses across the country and who will be the beneficiaries? There is partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural development; can the Committee receive a detailed report in terms of the beneficiaries and the longevity of those partnerships?

Ms A Hlongo (ANC) asked the executive chairperson how many offices were opened since his term in office and in which province? How does NYDA reach out to people in rural areas?

Mr S Ngcobo (DA) stated that in South Africa, 5.1% are persons with disabilities, including young people with special needs. A report by the Human Rights Commission indicated that a lot of those persons are still excluded from economic opportunities. In terms of grant funding, how many of those persons have received grant funding and in future how will they be prioritised? Secondly, regarding the R50 million grant funding received from the Eastern Cape provincial government, how many people from the Eastern Cape benefitted from the grant funding?

Ms Masiko asked what the NYDA was implementing in terms of GBV programmes. There are a number of structures that are being built by government that are not utilised or that are underutilised; has the NYDA explored a partnership in terms of government departments? There are sectors that are not being tapped into; what is the NYDA doing to stimulate young people to go into other sectors instead of flocking into one sector? In terms of the 1 000 young people benefitting, in its report it was indicated 50 per week would be tackled and a week had passed since the SONA happened; what was the progress as it relates to that? Which industries had been targeted and how many young people had benefitted? Lastly, what is the day-to-day work of the DWYPD: Chief Directorate Youth? How were young people benefitting from this office?

Mr Mphiti spoke on the budget expenditure and why they were not aligned to the APP; what was the reason for that? The amended APP is not sufficient when it relates to financial controls, the three additions made to the APP do not have strong financial control in the NYDA. It does not seem that they are connected to the Treasury guideline. What considerations were made when those three were included? Before the amendment of the APP, what were the financial controls because they previously did not have much financial controls? How is the donation from the Eastern Cape going to assist young people in the Eastern Cape and how will that be rolled out?

There was a discrepancy on some of the targets, the report of the CEO versus the report the Committee received, what is the reason? Regarding the point made by the CFO that most of the NYS work is done in the 4th quarter, he also said it is quiet in December because it is December - there are contradictions.

There is a misalignment between the work of the NYDA and the Department, they do not seem connected. In the last meeting the Member asked what has been the relationship between the Department and NYDA. What steps have been taken to align the Department and NYDA? There should be coherence between the two.

How is the NYDA handling the donations it received? It had received R145 million. He requested that in the next meeting, the NYDA should provide an organogram and drivers.

The Chairperson made a comment on the National Youth Policy, stating that the Department needed to draft it and give an explanation of the role of NYDA in terms of drafting, or whether it had made its own submissions. What inputs has NYDA made regarding the Procurement Bill in the interest of youth?

Response

Deputy Minister Mkhize, referring to the NYS policy, stated that it had come up with a concept and proposal through the Department of what its idea of a youth policy was and once it has been approved the NYDA would embark on a consultation process, through workshops and high-level meetings with young people in South Africa. The policy would be executed through the NYDA. The new board would also have an opportunity to have an input on this policy.

With regard to the realignment of the NYDA with the Department, she mentioned that at the start of her presentation she spoke to the shareholder package it was working on with the NYDA. It would look at the core mandate and performance agreement of the Minister. The compact will include the core mandate of the Department.

With regard to persons with disabilities, part of the mandate of the Department concerns disabled persons. The inclusive rights of persons with disabilities are not separate issues but also form part of the main issues in every target set.

As part of its work, it is supposed to set targets for each department. When the district development model was launched, the Department of Agriculture in Lusikisiki had started a training programme.

On the question of GBV among young people, the Department of Higher Education had a programme and it had revived that relationship where it visits TVET colleges where young people discuss their experiences on rape and sexual assault.  

Mr Mtsweni responded to the question on the NYDA Act by explaining that the Act was being enacted for the NYDA to play a coordination and mainstreaming role for youth development in both the public and private sector. The NYDA needed to develop a youth report, advise government on youth policy. Over the years the NYDA had also begun to also play an interventionist role in relation to issues in entrepreneurship, skills and development in youth. The President had delegated the function of the NYDA to the Minister in the Presidency.

He also concurred that there had been a meeting with the DWYPD on role clarity. The shareholder compact had been signed with the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and would be signed with the Department as well.

Over the past three years the NYDA has been fighting to be recognised within government. Government had various initiatives that did not involve the NYDA and so it seemed that those initiatives where redundant to the work of the NYDA. In the office of the President there was a unit which had been created to deal specifically with unemployment, and a Presidential Monitoring Office (PMO) has been established. It has a specific function to deal with the intervention that the President has to make regarding unemployment. In terms of resource allocation, the roles that the NYDA is responsible for will continue to be its responsibility.

On the issue of donor funding, there is engagement and partnership; it is normally the donor who will specify which area it wants those funds to be used or they will be given free rein to allocate those funds to areas which it sees as a necessity, but in essence if a donor has a specific project in mind then they have to carry that out. Braai Café is an initiative of small businesses, but they intervene to ask whether young people were involved in the project and that is how they got involved by helping to identify young people for funding.

Every three months there will be a booklet with beneficiaries, highlighting all details of their enterprises. The project of 1 000 in 100 days the Department of Small Business Development will utilise the system of grant funding. There is a visible campaign on social media. They have reported on the 50 beneficiaries. There are 50 offices in the past two years that will assist with the 1 000 project.

The Eastern Cape has the Isiqalo Fund whereby they requested the assistance of the NYDA. So, the funds are administered by the provinces.

Dr Bernice Hlagala, Acting Chief Director Youth: DWYPD, responded to the question on the role of the Department by explaining that its major role is policy development, monitoring and implementing National Youth Policy supporting various stakeholders, government and offices of the Premier where youth units are located; in terms of strategy development, cross cutting research and supporting the executive authority in overseeing the performance of the NYDA.

There are resource constraints, its budget is R9.8 million where R6.8 is for compensation, goods and services, R2.9 million and of that R1.6 million is paid as subscription to the Commonwealth. In terms of the NYP process there is a task team; the NYDA is part of the task team. The document has been open for public consultation.

The NYDA not made input on the Procurement Bill. The NYDA Act is a process that has started on the amendment provisions for the Act. There is also a task team dealing with those amendments; it consists of the NYDA, Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and National Treasury for drafting those provisions. Once the process is done there will be a presentation to the Committee.

Ms Masiko suggested that Dr Hlagala should be invited again to the Committee to give a more in-depth overview of the work they do for young people.

The Chairperson concluded by suggesting that all unanswered questions should be written and submitted. In addition, there will be a follow-up meeting with the delegates.

The meeting was adjourned.