Cape Town - The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) should be disbanded, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Wednesday.
It made the call after Parliament's appropriations standing committee heard on Tuesday that NYDA CEO Steven Ngubeni had been suspended and was being investigated following the outcome of an audit.
"At a parliamentary hearing yesterday, it was revealed that Ngubeni is being investigated for approving a R9m project without following proper procedure," DA Youth Leader Mbali Ntuli said.
Ntuli said allegations against Ngubeni were only the "tip of the iceberg", adding the probe against him was being used by the NYDA to "pretend that it is on a clean-up mission".
The NYDA needed to answer to questions about many other projects it wasted money on.
This included R10m spent on a Youth Awards Ceremony, R11m spent on board members' salaries, and the R100m spent on the 2010 World Youth Festival.
"It’s obvious that NYDA isn’t getting it together, and Steven Ngubeni shouldn’t be accepted as the fall guy," Ntuli said.
The party would ask Parliament to probe all the questionable financial dealings of the agency.
"Ultimately the best way to help South Africa’s youth would be to disband the NYDA, and spend the money directly on policies that will help young people like bursaries, better schools, and a youth wage subsidy for more jobs," Ntuli said.