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Public protector to probe NYDA catering contract

The public protector will be asked to broaden the scope of her investigation into the misuse of funds by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) to include alleged nepotism involving its CEO, Steven Ngubeni, and the alleged use of government funding for ANC Youth League regional conferences. The allegations were made in City Press articles on Sunday. Ngubeni allegedly awarded a family member a catering tender worth R22 million for the World Festival of Youth and Students, hosted by NYDA in December 2010 and funded largely from state coffers and a National Lotteries Board grant.

Ngubeni reportedly signed the contract, allegedly awarded without proper tender procedures being followed. The company, Ntombezintsha Trading, got R6.5m in advance, but was fired soon after the festival began, amid a catering disaster. One of the three owners of the firm was the uncle of Ngubeni’s wife. City Press reported that NYDA “youth summits” funded by the Eastern Cape Social Development Department in May and June last year had also been used to hold ANC Youth League regional conferences, where elections were held.

The department had been under the impression it was giving the money, R540 000, for NYDA events only. The public protector is already investigating a complaint laid by the DA Youth in connection with NYDA’s public support for ANC Youth League marches in October last year. The DA Youth said this was not only an “unacceptable conflation of party and state, but unlawful and unconstitutional”. The NYDA top management is made up largely of former youth league leaders. On Monday, DA Youth leader Makashule Gana said his organisation would submit evidence about the youth summits and the catering tender to the public protector and ask her to “please speed up the investigation”.

NYDA said on Monday that the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development had paid the service providers for the youth summits directly. NYDA executive chairman Andile Lungisa said this meant that the agency had not handled the money for these transactions. Eastern Cape Department of Social Development spokesman Gcobani Maswana confirmed this. Lungisa said the summits had been organised by the NYDA branch in the Eastern Cape for all young people and “not any political organisation”. City Press reported that Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane had demanded an explanation on the catering contract from the agency’s board. The youth league told City Press its members were at the forefront of championing youth issues at municipal level.

Source: iol.co.za

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Public protector to probe NYDA catering contract

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