The punishment given to former African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Tony Yengeni for contravening the party's code of conduct has left analysts questioning the ANC's promise to act against corruption and misconduct.

Yengeni's membership of the ANC was yesterday suspended for five years, but this penalty was "wholly suspended" for three years and he remains a serving member of the ruling party's national executive committee.

He pleaded guilty in court in February to a charge of fraud and admitted accepting a 47% discount on a Mercedes-Benz car in return for using his influence as an MP to favour a company bidding for part of the arms deal. He is currently out on bail pending an appeal of his sentence.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota was found guilty of contravening the parliamentary code of conduct after he stated in Parliament's Register of Members' Interests that he had nothing to declare when he was a director and shareholder in businesses.

Prof Adam Habib of the University of Natal's School of Development Studies said Yengeni's punishment did not reflect "the kind of firmness" the ANC had spoken about.

He said voters would find the ANC's failure to do what it promised confusing and were likely to be cynical about the seriousness of its anticorruption messages

Habib said Lekota's fine was "strict and firm", despite the fact that Lekota admitted immediately to his offence and co-operated with Parliament and the ANC as soon as the details of his shareholding emerged.

Yengeni took almost two years tell the truth. He initially dubbed newspaper reports of his corruption a "witchhunt", took out advertisements in newspapers claiming he was a victim of racism and hired top lawyers to defend himself in court.

"We need consistency and firmness in all cases of corruption and breaches of the code of conduct ," Habib says.

Regarding Lekota, the disciplinary committee said it believed that the reprimand and fine would "demonstrate the ANC's commitment to dealing with this kind of offence by its members".

The committee said it considered his failure to provide correct and satisfactory information to Parliament in a serious light.

It decided that he should be "seriously reprimanded" for his noncompliance with the rules regarding disclosure and for subjecting the ANC to "ridicule and contempt".

However, his actions were found to be not wilful, lacked elements of dishonesty, fraud, or suggested impropriety. The committee concluded that his actions had "amounted to a negligent omission" .

Because Lekota had never before been charged for any violation of any rule or standing order of the ANC , the committee accepted that he had shown remorse and taken immediate steps to minimise the damage or harm caused to the ANC.

The conditions attached to Yengeni's suspension are that the former chief whip should not be "convicted of any offence by a court of law; or convicted of any contravention in terms of the ANC constitution or any ANC code of conduct, where dishonesty forms an element of the matter of which Yengeni is convicted and is of a serious nature".

The committee found that he had made misrepresentations to the National Assembly and to the public by stating that he had signed an agreement of sale in respect of the vehicle for the falsely deflated amount of R230052, on October 15 1998

Yengeni had also falsely reported that he paid a deposit of R50000, that the vehicle was damaged during transport and that the vehicle was sold as a used vehicle without a warranty.

The committee said its suspension of the expulsion from the party was due to Yengeni's remorse for his behaviour .

It also recognised that there had been "no fraudulent appropriation of property".

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, who was expelled from the ANC after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of bringing the party into disrepute, said yesterday's hearings "look like a damage control exercise".

"These are people who have vowed to fight corruption and need to be seen to be doing something to convince voters otherwise at the polls next year," Holomisa said.

With acknowledgements to Hopewell Radebe and the Business Day.