The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has postponed its next youth awards ceremony following the suspension last week of its CEO.
"The SA Youth Awards have been put on hold until further notice," the NYDA said in a message on its website on Tuesday. The message included a contact number.
Asked to confirm whether the message was correct, an NYDA switchboard operator responded: "Yes, that is correct."
He declined to give further details, and referred queries to the NYDA's marketing manager, who was not immediately available for comment.
Earlier, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane confirmed that the second annual South Afican Youth Awards would cost over R10 million.
"An amount of approximately R6 027 000 has been budgeted for the second annual SA Youth Awards of the NYDA," he said in written reply to a parliamentary question. A further R4 097 994 would be spent on advertising.
Chabane said the NYDA board had decided that funding for the awards ceremony, other than the cost of advertising, "should be secured from sponsors".
The parliamentary question on the cost of the ceremony was posed by Democratic Alliance MP Joe McGluwa.
In a statement on Tuesday, McGluwa said the cost of the ceremony was exorbitant.
"Given the poor track record of the NYDA, and with millions of young South Africans without access to job opportunities, it is simply not justifiable for the organisation to spend such an exorbitant amount on a single event.
"The funding sought for the awards from sponsors would be better spent on initiatives designed to facilitate youth employment initiatives."
McGluwa called on President Jacob Zuma to disband the NYDA, which he described as a liability and a "useless" organisation, and one which had "continuously proven itself to be nothing more than an employment agency for the ANC Youth League".
Last Wednesday, the NYDA's board announced that CEO Steven Ngubeni had been suspended.
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