A Festival of Fluff

Quick, don't think! Let's play a word association game. When I say 'The National Youth Development Agency', what are the first words or phrases that come to mind? Youth unemployment, education, empowerment, poverty alleviation, AIDS, teenage sex. Burning issues, I hope you'd agree, which pertain to the youth of the day and affect their ever day lives. I get goose pimples brought on by an acute attack of nerves when I think about important and destructive these issues are on current and future generations. But if you had to ask the top brass from the National Youth development Agency what they'd want to raise at the upcoming World Festival of Youth and Students, to be held in South Africa, the answers would probably range from clumsily crafted rhetoric to awkward and vague explanations, devoid any of comprehension and logic. Yes, I've already written off this 'festival' as a complete waste of time and money. It's starting to resemble ANCYL conferences, where chaos and stupidity are the order of the agenda. With the National Lotteries Board deciding to give the Agency R40-million to host the event already justifies my premature conclusion. Surely this money could best be used to fulfill one of the Lotteries Board's main objectives - helping out charities. Instead a bunch of officious lackey layabouts will have their coffers topped up with cash (which will probably never be properly accounted for in future audits. watch this space), while it could be spent on, I don't know, maybe feeding a few hungry children, building another few schools, you know, the real issues plaguing the youth of today. And let's not forget the NYDA originally want hundreds of millions more for their little Christmas party. At least sanity prevailed and the budget was slashed, much to the chagrin of Agency bigwigs who were probably hoping for an extra Christmas box this year compliments of the Lotteries Board.
'Everything is above board', bluster various officials as they childishly defend their decision to fund seemingly pointless gatherings. Obtuse political jargon follows as the they insist the event is of 'national and international importance'. And children receiving their education under trees, minors being sold into slavery and staggering levesl fo unemployment among youth aren't of national and international significance? Surely R40-million could rather be spent on doctoring these pressing issues. Nope, the festival has insteda been anochronostically themed - Let's defeat imperialims. Good to know the reall issues swill be tackled.
Personalities who'll be addressing the festival include those models of ethics and intelligence, Jackie Selebi and of course Julius Malema. The latter will no doubt use the ocassion to attack... well, everyone. Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF Youth League will also be (dis)gracing the event with their presence as will the youngsters from the ever democratic Workers Party of North Korea. So, in other words this World Festival of Youth and students is starting to look more like a spectacular meeting of minds of some of the most undemocratic, lawless, authoritarian groupings in the world all keen on a free holiday in sunny South Africa.