Y20 South Africa 2025 distances itself from the NYDA-led Y20 activities

Y20 South Africa 2025, the official civil society-led youth engagement group of the G20, on Thursday distanced itself from an event recently publicised on social media platforms by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) as a “Y20 South Africa”.

“Despite clear communication from the department of international relations & cooperation [Dirco] in a meeting held in January 2025 that the Y20 process is a civil society-led initiative and not a government-led one, the NYDA has proceeded to organise and promote its own 'Y20' activities.

“This action directly undermines the position of Dirco, which is the department officially responsible for the country's G20 presidency in 2025,” the group said.

It said the Y20 was one of the official G20 engagement groups, meant to be led by youth civil society and government institutions or agencies.

“The NYDA's action represents an unfortunate and inappropriate attempt by a government agency to context and interfere in a civil society space.”

It said in the 14 years since the Y20 was established, the NYDA had never been actively involved in the Y20 process until it appeared as a guest during Brazil 2024 summit and had never led or hosted a Y20 delegation before.

TimesLIVE