The flexibility shown by parliament's ethics committee towards African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni created an unfortunate precedent, said the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday. 

The granting of an extension, until Thursday, to Yengeni to reply to the committee was "amazing", said DA chief whip Douglas Gibson. 

Last Thursday, the ANC closed ranks around Yengeni and declined to comment on whether he had met a second deadline from the committee to answer claims that he had failed to list a luxury vehicle in the register of members' interests. 

Yengeni had until 5pm on Thursday to respond to a second letter from the committee. 

The registrar of members' interests refused to comment last week 

In replying to the committee's first letter, he had questioned the committee's procedures. In terms of parliament's rules, Yengeni was given a second chance to reply. 

The DA has also accused Yengeni of failing to declare a residential property in the register of members' interests. 

The registrar of members' interests, Fazela Mohamed, refused to comment last week. She said she had been instructed by committee chairperson and ANC MP Bernard Ncube not to respond to media inquiries. Ncube did not return calls, although several messages were left on her voicemail.

'We must give him the benefit of the doubt until the contrary is shown'

Gibson said the flexibility shown by Ncube towards an "important ANC figure" created an unfortunate precedent. "In future, any MP will be able to comply with the ethics committee's requests in his or her own time without being concerned about deadlines or time limits." 

Yengeni said weeks ago that he had done nothing wrong. 

"If he says so, we must give him the benefit of the doubt until the contrary is shown," said Gibson. "The public will not understand why he has found it so difficult to make a simple declaration about a house he owns and a car he bought." The ANC and Yengeni "obviously care little about parliament or about the ethics committee". Yengeni and his party's conduct seemed to indicate a contempt for parliament, said Gibson. 

With acknowledgement to Sapa and Independent Online.