Ikageng NPO positively invades the township without government funding

By Mpho Koka

Youth Invasion, a non-profit organisation (NPO) based in the township of Ikageng, Potchefstroom, in the North-West province, is uplifting the community of Ikageng through its skills, without any financial government support. Youth Invasion is a youth-led organisation that was founded on 20 March 2014 by five matriculants and registered with the Department of Social Development of South Africa (SA) in the same year.

Youth Invasion, founded in 2014 by matriculant Katleho ‘Pholy The Anthropologist’ Mogorosi, is an organisation of young people who use their skills, talents, qualifications and other little resources they have, to address problems in the community of Ikageng. Through its production of Hip Hop music, drawings by artists, compilation of documentaries and manufacturing of clothes, just to mention a few, Youth Invasion empowers the youth and people living in Ikageng with their skills so that they bring change in their communities. “We started Youth Invasion to address community issues,” said Katleho. “Since the people in our community are faced with high unemployment, lack of education and crime, we want to address problems in the community using the little resources we have,” he added. Given the daily realities that young people in SA face ranging from youth unemployment, inability to access education and crime, just to name a few, organisations like Youth Invasion are really making an effort through their activities and talents to deal with the aforementioned social ills. As this group of young people makes and sells its music, artwork and clothes, they make money from their crafts. With this money, they are in a position to make a living from their work, and even use it to enrol for tertiary education if they wish to do so. Such strides help them in achieving the goal of their organisation which is curbing unemployment and taking the youth off the streets from being swallowed by crime.

Youth Invasion has had a challenge of getting funding. “Funding is a challenge. We need people to come invest in us,” said Kgothatso Dire, Youth Invasion rapper. “We need studio space,” he added. “We asked for money from the government, JB Marks Local Municipality, and we did not get it,” said Kgothatso. “When we asked for money from the municipality we were given a ‘chain of command,’ added Kgothatso. “We told to go see this person and later told to go see this other person and so on and so on. We were sent from pillar to post,” said Kgothatso. “We ask for funding using our profiles and funding for us doesn’t necessarily mean money. It can be anything resourceful,” added Kgothatso. “We need more studio space, music material, artwork equipment,” said Kgothatso. “At the end of the day, we have chosen to self-fund ourselves,” added Katleho. Youth Invasion, just like any other young and recently established youth organisation and/or NPO, struggled to get money from the government, in particular its local municipality in this case. The youth-led group argues that when it requested for money specifically they were sent from pillar to post. This highlights the official rules and formalities [red tape] that NGOs, NPOs and even potential businesses have to follow when they request funding. However, Youth Invasion can be applauded for its perseverance despite not getting money. They continue to pursue their goal of township social development by self-funding. This is a step of self-determination. Realising that the municipality failed to give them money, they didn’t let this hold them back. What’s more, their innovative thinking is on another level. For them, funding is not only about money. They see funding as anything that can be resourceful to them and their organisation. For them more studio space for recording their music and material for designing their artworks, is funding in their view. This goes to show that the group is imaginative and are not prepared to let lack of money stop them from continuing with tackling issues in Ikageng.

The government of South Africa through its official website states that it offers different forms of funding to potential businesses, NPOs and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This government funding comes in the form of grants, cost-sharing grants, incentives, tax incentives and equity funding. The government states that only registered NPOs are allowed to operate legally and be eligible to access government funds and assistance. Through this the government is asserting that it does offer money to businesses, NPOs and NGOs. The only proof that the government can use to support their claim that they give out money is this information that they have published on their website.

The JB Marks Local Municipality stated that it does not allocate funds for NGOs or NPOs from its municipal budget. “The municipality does not make donations,” said Fana Phokoje, financial accountant in the finance department of the municipality. “We do not give out donations because they are not allocated for on our municipal budget,” he added. “We avoid unauthorised expenditure,” added Fana. The aforementioned municipality states that it does not give money or any financial assistance to any person or entity. The reason they outline for doing this is that things which are not allocated for in their budget. By so doing, the municipality aims to do things by the book.

“Our municipal budget is approved by the council and we use that money for what it is allocated for. Sadly, NPOs are not on the budget,” said Fana. “When NPOs approach us, we send them from one department to the other to see who can negotiate and help them,” added Fana. “Only the municipal manager decides whether an NPO can get money or not since no NPO funds are allocated for on the budget,” said Fana. “We try by all means not to violate the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA), added Fana. Based on this, the municipality does not give out donations or money to NPOs. JB Marks Local Municipality only uses money for things that are allocated for on its municipal budget. However, there are exceptional cases where in which the municipality can try to see if they can help NPOs like Youth Invasion to access funding. The members of Youth Invasion stated that they asked for money from the municipality and were given a ‘chain of command’ process and ended up not getting anything. The municipality through its own concession said they at times negotiate with NPOs to see if they can give them money and end up not doing so. Therefore, it is then logical to conclude that the JB Marks Local Municipality had a way of assisting Youth Invasion with money but failed to do so.

For an organisation without any sufficient financial support and a massive influential presence in the broader society of SA, this group of young people is destined to achieve their mission when one of their artists had this to say: “Our goal is to be role models for young people in the township. Our long-term goal is to teach them to ‘Do You,’ said Ore The Don, Hip Hop music producer. “Funding or no funding, we are making it,” he added. Youth Invasion as an NPO is on course to practically deal with the problems that young people are facing in the township of Ikageng, irrespective of the point that they don’t get financial assistance from the municipality. Youth Invasion made the observation that there are no jobs in Ikageng and as a result young people have resorted to crime and most young people cannot afford to go to university. So, to deal with all of these problems directly, Youth Invasion believes producing Hip Hop music, with educational lyrics and selling it, will conscientise young people and make them have a different perspective about life. That living in harsh realities of crime and unemployment is not a person’s end of life and there is still room for a new reality after that.