NYDA explains R100m youth fest bill

By Khanyisa Tabata
08 February 2011

The National Youth Development Agency dropped a bombshell this morning by announcing that the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students cost 100-million-Rands to stage. The initial amount was 69-million-Rands.

The event was held at the Pretoria Showgrounds in December. The Agency’s executive chairperson Andile Lungisa says are continuing to raise funds to ensure that none of the NYDA's own budget is used to finance the festival.

The National Lotteries Board allocated 27-million-Rands towards the cost.

NLB spokesperson Sershan Naidoo said it had paid a first trenche of R24m, but that before it transferred the remaining R16m, the NYDA would have to submit a progress report, with substantiating information, detailing how the funds were used.

NYDA chief executive officer Stephen Ngubeni said the NYDA had never said the festival would cost only R69m, but that it had merely disclosed the amounts for which it had received funding.

He said the R69m cost had been "speculation" by the media and that the NYDA had received a further R5.5m from provincial governments, R1.8m from the department of communications and that registration fees from participants at the festival had generated another R2.3m. Some funding had also come from municipalities.

Entertainment costs rang up to R9.5m, catering had a bill of R29m, travel and housing cost R24m and was paid to R3.4m volunteers.

He said the NYDA would submit a report to Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane.