27 November 2009
	Show us the money Zweli Mabaso, Cape Town

Thank you for your article "Playing politics" (Features November 20). As a country we have great development institutions, among them the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). As these institutions play a vital role in our economy, government should inject money into them. However, they should only rely on government funds for the initial stages, building internal capacity and self-sufficiency so they can continue to carry out their mandates in a sustainable manner. It has been reported that the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) has invested huge sums of money into businesses owned and managed by young people. If this is the case, there should be returns from the servicing of the capital and interest on loans issued, despite the current economic conditions. But if this is not the case and money transferred to UYF cannot be accounted for, steps should be taken to recover it and prosecute those in the wrong. After all, it is resources like this the NYDA needs to use for its development programmes, and to continue providing the services it is meant to. Why should government contribute to the fund when there is no clear indication what previous funds were used for? We also need to know what changes have been made to avoid repeating previous mistakes. Another question that needs answering is what impact the NYDA would have on the development of SA's youth, particularly those in business, since we need to grow small businesses if we are to substantially reduce the high unemployment and poverty rates facing the country? The NYDA says it requires R1bn to finance offices in 298 municipalities. This does not make economic sense: where is the additional income going to come from for them to execute their mandate? Why not ask the municipalities to sponsor the NYDA with accommodation, as most municipalities underutilis e the space they occupy. The UYF and National Youth Commission, which merged to form NYDA, have already rolled out offices nationally.