As a political militant in the ANC - along with his radical allies, such as Winnie Mandela and youth leader Peter Mokaba - Tony Yengeni once tilted the scales of power in the ruling party.

His profile made the so-called doves or moderates in the ANC uneasy: military training in uMkhonto weSizwe, his espousal of black consciousness and his union leadership.

This could be a reason he was forced to compromise and withdraw his candidacy for the chairmanship of the ANC in the Western Cape in the 1990s.

As the party's former chief whip and chairman of the joint standing committee on defence - a role that would lead to his downfall - Yengeni, 52, was trusted and his power and influence acknowledged.

Surely he was heading for big things in the party and national politics?

His political high profile was augmented by a taste for the good life, and he flaunted it: smart in Armani suits or debonair in Xhosa garb at the opening of parliament, membership of the city's most exclusive golf clubs.

His photograph once adorned the shop window of an exclusive men's clothing store at the V&A Waterfront.

The trappings of affluence were in stark contrast to his early political education, earning a social science diploma in the former Soviet Union, when the ideological emphasis was on social solidarity and the shunning of materialism.

And it was the lure of a de luxe Mercedes-Benz that sent his career skidding off the road when he accepted a huge discount on a green ML320 from a company seeking a contract in the multibillion-rand arms deal.

Yengeni tried to defy gravity as he fell, clinging to every legal strategy.

Within the ANC, he tried to wield his fading influence, switching his loyalty to embattled ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, in the hope that Zuma's vocal support base could prod the ANC to come to their defence.

Now Zuma himself is facing corruption charges related to the arms deal.

Earlier he had attempted to bring comradeship into the legal process, seeking to clinch a plea bargain with the then national director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, at a social get-together.

When he tried to hold Ngcuka to this during his court appeal, the lawman dropped him like a hot potato.

It was a signal that it was time to look for new friends, and he found Zuma alluring.

He believed, some in the ANC whispered, that if he could prolong the trial until Zuma took the reins in 2007 - assuming the ANC deputy president himself would survive his corruption trial - he could hope for the political tables to be turned.

He and other ANC leaders facing prosecution were described in one tripartite alliance crisis meeting as the "walking wounded", allegedly targeted by conspirators who were using state resources to eliminate them.

This political conspiracy theory pushed Yengeni further into the Zuma camp in the ANC's succession battle.

During a national executive committee crisis meeting of the ANC on the eve of the explosive national general council meeting last winter, he was highly vocal about the fate of Zuma.

He even cited his own predicament as an example of how people were being dealt with in the ANC and how state resources were abused.

The national general council forced the reinstatement of Zuma after he withdrew his participation following his dismissal as deputy president and subsequent corruption chargesagainst him.

The NGC's people power gave Yengeni hope of salvation.

Yengeni also acted as a consultant for mining magnate Brett Kebble. He was reportedly among those who appeared at a recent liquidation hearing.

Liquidators of the murdered Kebble's estate are trying to recover millions in funds.

This will not be Yengeni's first taste of jail. He was arrested in 1987 and spent four years awaiting trial in prison on terrorism charges.

His torturer, Jeffrey Benzien, escaped jail after he was granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for his notorious wetbag method of torture, something he demonstrated on Yengeni himself during the TRC hearing.

Now Yengeni is on his way to jail as a common criminal in the new South Africa that he sacrificed so much to free.

With acknowledgements to Moshoeshoe Monare and the Cape Argus.