As South Africa prepares to celebrate Youth Day on Tuesday, a governance dispute over the R1.3 billion National Youth Service (NYS) programme at the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has deepened.
A confidential whistle-blower complaint has raised allegations of procurement irregularities involving the office of the agency’s chief executive, Ndumiso Kubheka.
The complaint, which Sunday World has seen, alleges that Kubheka’s office exerted undue influence over the appointment of non-profit organisations (NPOs) as implementing partners for the NYS. The programme is linked to the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, aimed at providing work opportunities to at least 100 000 young people at a time when youth unemployment remains high.
The role of ANC branch leader Senzeni Mphila, a senior manager in Kubheka’s office who is also described as his chief of staff, is under scrutiny.
Mphila chaired the bid evaluation committee (BEC) that assessed applications from NPOs seeking appointment as implementing partners for the programme. Mphila’s committee made recommendations to the bid adjudication committee, which confirmed the short-listed NPOs and sent the list to Kubheka for final approval.
Sunday World has seen an internal NYDA confidential whistleblower complaint that claims Kubheka corrupted the process by making sure his right-hand man oversaw the entire procurement process.
“The concern is that procurement and operational decisions relating to NYS appear to be heavily influenced through the office of the CEO and the office of the chief of staff. This creates a perception that ordinary governance controls may have been weakened or bypassed.”
Kubheka denied any wrongdoing, saying that the NYDA supply chain management division recommended that Mphila chair the BEC. “The agency’s procurement policies require supply chain management to recommend members for approval to serve in the bid specification committee and BEC for every contract being procured.”
Sunday World has seen the NYDA supply chain management policy paper, which emphasises the CEO’s responsibility to maintain a “fair and transparent” system. It says only the CEO may designate the chairs of procurement committees.
Sunday World also has access to documents from the BEC that list Mphila as its head.
The bid adjudication committee’s report, which was provided to Kubheka and is essentially a copy of the BEC report, has also been read by this publication.
The BEC report selected 36 entities from a list of nearly 150 NPOs that tendered to be part of the lucrative project. Nine organisations from the previous phase, three of which are allegedly connected to former NYDA leaders, have made the cut again. The entities were flagged for underperforming in the previous phase.
One NPO with ties to a prominent national opposition politician was left off the list after Sunday World revealed its misdemeanours in the previous phase of the programme.
The whistleblower complaint further alleges that Mphila had relationships with some of the implementing partners. Sunday World knows the names of the flagged service providers and the former NYDA leaders implicated.
Furthermore, the complaint alleges that some of the service providers recommended for the NYS project have previously engaged in corrupt practices, including employing ghost workers, failing to pay young people and syphoning millions of rand intended for the upkeep of certain NYDA executives.
“There are allegations that, when reporting is due to the agency, attendance records are manipulated or ‘cooked’ to create the impression that all
beneficiaries attended and performed their duties.
“If true, this would amount to a serious failure of financial control, monitoring, evaluation and programme integrity. There are also reports that some young people are registered under NYS programmes but are never properly placed at confirmed service sites,” the complaint continues.
Kubheka says the whistleblowers’ claims of irregularities and corruption in the procurement process are untrue.
“The singling out of two out of nine returning service providers and the baseless attribution of their re-appointment to proximity to me and Mr Mphila is malicious and intended to tarnish the process and the organisations concerned.
“The insinuation of the allegation without the substance, fact, or evidence thereof is limiting; the board will guide such a process and will determine whether an investigation is prima facie warranted or not.”
Mphila echoed Kubheka: “The BEC conducted its work properly and in accordance with applicable SCM policies.”
The whistleblower report has been sent to the NYDA government shareholder minister of youth in the Presidency, Sindisiwe Chikunga, and the portfolio committee of youth in Parliament. It calls for a probe.
Chikunga will return from the US this week to yet another fire involving the agency’s rival groups. A portfolio committee meeting has been rescheduled for June 24.
- A whistleblower complaint alleges procurement irregularities in the R1.3 billion National Youth Service (NYS) programme at the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), implicating CEO Ndumiso Kubheka and his chief of staff Senzeni Mphila.
- Mphila, an ANC branch leader, chaired the bid evaluation committee responsible for selecting non-profit organisations (NPOs) as implementing partners, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and undue influence over procurement.
- The complaint points to underperformance, corrupt practices by some returning NPOs—including ghost workers and misuse of funds—and manipulated attendance records within the NYS programme.
- Kubheka and Mphila deny all allegations, claiming compliance with supply chain management policies and asserting that the procurement process was conducted fairly and transparently.
- The whistleblower report has been submitted to the Minister of Youth in the Presidency and Parliament’s portfolio committee, prompting calls for an investigation amid ongoing governance disputes at the NYDA.
