Mr President, in your state of the nation address you highlighted very important points. One of them was the youth wage subsidy, which excited many of us. It was intended to assist in doing away with unemployment among the youth, something that is at dangerously high levels. A major percentage of the 4,3 million unemployed South Africans are represented by our young people. About 42% of young people under the age of 30 are unemployed. The sad reality is that only one in eight working-age adults under 25 years of age has a job. We call upon you Mr President, to accelerate and implement what you stressed in February this year.
Furthermore, in response to a question by the Leader of the Opposition on oversight of The Presidency in the week of 27 March, the hon Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe replied:
That is a matter for this august House to take forward. We would not oppose that in any way. I believe the ANC benches would be very happy to establish such a structure.
Mr President, my question is: when will this Parliament give birth to such a structure? It is not only crucial, but common cause to have oversight over the budget of The Presidency and, in particular, the two Ministries that fall under it. The ID welcomes all attempts that seek to encourage the exchange of ideas and solutions among our youth. However, initiatives such as the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, that essentially becomes an ANC youth league support scheme, has been used at the expense of the poor and disadvantaged young people in our country.
We are completely opposed to the expenditure of the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA. There is no proper oversight or scrutiny and there is a lack of reporting to any Parliamentary committee. Yet we are expected to condone such an event. Why is it that the Zuma administration has allocated R30 million to the youth for what is essentially a festival event, while we have such pressing issues in our country? Mr President, is this a party of government or a government of parties? [Applause.]
Can you explain, Mr President, what benefit we got as a country out of hosting a jamboree for some of the most repressive states in this world? If NYDA and the Zuma administration had allocated R100 million for bursaries or skills development across the nine provinces, each province could have received approximately R11 million! These are funds that we could have utilised to enhance education and economic opportunities for our youth, to bring about the delivery of real changes to the South African youth where oversight structures are in place.
Mr President, another concern is your promise on monitoring and evaluation in the Cabinet. Mr President, you have the power. This is your Cabinet. Why don't you take responsibility and remove those Ministers who blatantly abuse state funds? Can you explain to the nation why you do not remove these Ministers immediately? Mr President, the core function of this Parliament is oversight. We as Parliament will be doing an injustice if we support a budget when no oversight structures exist. It is for this reason that the ID cannot support this budget. I thank you. [Applause.]