Organisation will ask its former chief whip why he pleaded guilty to defrauding Parliament
Legal Affairs Correspondent

Former African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Tony Yengeni will be called by his party to explain his decision to plead guilty to fraud charges and to discuss "other political matters" before the organisation comes to a conclusion about his future as a member of Parliament.

This is according to ANC parliamentary spokesman Cuba Mahaye, who said yesterday that the party had attempted to set up a meeting last week between Yengeni and the party's chief whip, Nathi Nhleko, which had been delayed because of the opening of Parliament.

The party hoped to set up a meeting soon after Yengeni's sentencing in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court today.

President Thabo Mbeki also said in an interview on SABC TV last night that the ANC would discuss the Yengeni matter this week.

Yengeni pleaded guilty in a settlement agreement with the state on Friday to defrauding Parliament by not disclosing a 47% discount he received on a luxury Mercedes-Benz 4x4 while he was chief whip of the ANC.

"The party is waiting to find out the details of the settlement agreement before it makes a decision," said Mahaye. "It's not like Yengeni was found guilty by a court, he pleaded guilty, and we are waiting to hear why he agreed to do so."

This comes as the Democratic Alliance (DA) called for Parliament's ethics committee to resume its deliberations on Yengeni, after it was revealed in his plea agreement on Friday that the politician had lied to Parliament during a personal address disputing the allegations in 2001.

DA spokeswoman on the arms deal Raenette Taljaard said yesterday that the party would refer "misleading statements", made in public and Parliament, to the parliamentary ethics committee and the speaker of the National Assembly, Frene Ginwala.

"When the furore about Yengeni's car discount erupted in the press, Yengeni went into damage control' mode and made a number of misleading statements, some in the media, but significantly one in Parliament on March 28 2001 when Ginwala gave him the opportunity to make a personal statement to the house. He abused that occasion and lied to the house," she said.

It was regrettable that Yengeni's plea agreement had not included these statements. "It should be an aggravating factor in sentencing that Yengeni actively and intentionally misled Parliament."

Mahaye said the ANC would not wait for a decision by Parliament's joint committee on ethics on Yengeni's fate should the committee decide to pursue the matter. "It would be a political decision for the ANC, while the committee will be guided by the constitution."

The decision by the joint committee on ethics in May 2001 to await the report of the arms deal investigation before acting further on Yengeni's alleged breach of Parliament's code of conduct, evoked an outcry from opposition MPs. They felt this was evidence of the ANC's general unwillingness to submit to Parliament and remains a bone of contention.

Yengeni failed to appear before the committee to explain how he came to own the luxury 4x4 that he only started to pay for seven months after acquiring it. He missed two deadlines to reply to the allegations in writing, choosing instead to question the committee's procedures.

With acknowledgements to Chantelle Benjamin and the Business Day.