An angry former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni on Friday hit out at the Scorpions' "all-white" panel that questioned him, and said that if the elite police unit didn't transform itself to reflect the demographics of the country, it would hit political problems.

Yengeni said all the people he had dealt with were white, including one former security-police officer who had been involved in his case as an ANC activist in 1987.

But the man who resigned this week as chief whip to become a backbench MP said: "If they thought they would make me the fall guy, they must think again. If they think I'm going to sit back in a corner and collapse and die, I'm not. I'm going to fight back and clear my name."

'I'm extremely angry because this has tarnished my name'

In an interview in Yengeni's office in parliament, which he is vacating, he was clearly sad and angry at the turn of events, but said he remained a disciplined member of the ANC.

Yengeni said he had made the decision to resign as chief whip himself, without any contact with the ANC leadership, but the ANC's national working committee would meet on Monday to decide whether he should remain a member of the National Assembly.

"I'm extremely angry because this has tarnished my name and my image in the ANC, the country and the world, and I have to waste my time and energy dealing with it. The court case is a waste of time and money."

He was especially angry with the Scorpions, which he said was intended to investigate crime syndicates, drug smuggling, arms smuggling and counterfeiting, but was now investigating more and more ANC leaders.

Asked if he thought this meant the Scorpions were pursuing an apartheid agenda, he first said "yes", then changed his mind, saying it was not an apartheid agenda but was not consistent with the spirit of the country's new democratic system.

'I can't hide my resentment at what they are doing to me and my family'

"My view is that there is something wrong with that unit. When I went for the interview I was amazed at the number of white people there. The same guys who persecuted us are in control."

He said one of the people on the panel questioning him was someone he identified only as "Van Vuuren", who was now working for the Scorpions but was involved in prosecuting him during his 1987 treason trial.

"So it's not surprising that the attention of the unit has changed from cracking serious syndicates and criminals. So I can't hide my resentment at what they are doing to me and my family."

Yengeni said he was now focusing on preparing himself for his trial. He would remain an MP, but later would look at other options outside of Parliament, including the business sector.

The former chief whip said he had told the panel there was something wrong with his being interviewed by an all-white panel. "I told them they were being insensitive to the history of the country, that it was against the spirit of the constitution, because it reminds me of whites judging blacks. We know there is racism, whites thinking blacks driving a car are thieves or drug smugglers."

Yengeni said he had not talked to Bulelani Ngcuka, head of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, which is in charge of the Scorpions, about his case. But he assumed his comments on the composition of the panel had been passed on to Ngcuka.

He was also suspicious of the television cameras outside his house on the day of his arrest and outside the building where he met the Scorpions before going to court.

"They phoned the press and said I was being arrested, come and take pictures." He said that whoever had phoned the press wanted to make some kind of statement. "I am appalled," he said.  

With acknowledgment to Johan Matisonn, the Saturday Star and Independent Online.