Cape Town - Parliament has given the public an opportunity to make written comments on about 1 000 names of candidates nominated to serve in the board of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).
This after the sub-committee of the portfolio committee on women, youth and people with disabilities and the select committee on health and social services on Tuesday placed the CVs of the candidates on the parliamentary website.
Parliament received about 1 000 applications after its calling for nomination for the appointment of NYDA board members as at April 9.
Instead of the usual short-listing of the about 30 candidates for interviews and then asking for public comment, the sub-committee went for the public comments from the word go on all the about 1 000 applicants.
“The sub-committee invites the public and civil society to make comments on the candidates’ CVs. The closing date for comments from members of the public and civil society is 5 June 5 2021,” committee chairpersons Nonhlanhla Ncube-Ndaba and Maurencia Gillion said.
Those wishing to make comments can access the CVs at https://tinyurl.com/pd5wzf25
The search for board members follows a decision by the National Assembly to restart the nomination process in February.
The appointment stalled last September after the National Assembly sent back the report recommending the candidates to serve on the board to the committee for further consideration.
This was after National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise received complaints on the selection process that was followed by the committee amid legal threats in some quarters.
Modise later received a legal opinion which recommended that the process to appoint the board be restarted from scratch.
The NYDA selection process was mired in controversy amid the surfacing of a letter purported to be from the interim ANC Youth League task team forwarding a list of preferred candidates, including some of those recommended, to the office of ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte prior to the interviews.
There are seven board vacancies that will be filled following a parliamentary process that will include interviews by MPs.
Those appointed will hold office for a period of three years.
They will be tasked with managing the operational policy of the NYDA and exercise control over its powers and execution of its function.
The aspirant board members should be South Africans that are not be unrehabilitated insolvent or been convicted and imprisoned without the option of a fine, among others.
They should not have been removed from an office of trust as a result of improper conduct, among other requirements.
Political Bureau