Thank you.
In turn, we have been left with the brutal symptoms of the New Dawn. Youth unemployment continues to kill our dreams and hopes. This is not because young people have not fought. We have fought for our ideas to be put on the table. We have voted in hope of change. Young people have fought to have a seat at the table, yet we find ourselves at a dinner menu, slaughtered at the out by unending promises that have never seen the light of day.
How exactly do we expect this department to answer these questions when the Minister has failed to attend three consecutive meetings of the portfolio committee? These questions remain unanswered.
The failure of this department is a moral injustice. We are a country at war with our women. At the height of an outbreak of gender-based violence, the department made no meaningful interventions to show the nation that it is
indeed important. One wonders if it has failed to show itself as a pioneer.
The National Youth Development Agency, NYDA - which is tasked with creating jobs and skills opportunities for the youth - is currently without a board and unable to take decisions about the economic crisis that we face. This means that the governance of this institution is rendered useless. Don't forget that the unemployment statistics have just hit an 11-year high. So exactly what are young people supposed to do?
This conversation has gone on for way too long. We can no longer have conversations without including people with disabilities. This needs to stop.
The repeat finding of irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure is something which we have not been able to ask the Minister about because she has not been attending our meetings.
One thing we must remember is that history has a way of looking better than what it was. I hope that the record
reflects that this department has ignored the cries of vulnerable people. We reject the budget. Thank you. [Time expired.]
IsiZulu: