Publication: The Witness
Issued:
Date: 2006-11-13
Reporter: Carien du Plessis
Reporter:
| Publication |
The Witness
|
| Date |
2006-11-13 |
|
Reporter
|
Carien du
Plessis |
|
Web Link
|
www.witness.co.za
|
Tony
Yengeni may be in trouble again, this time for breaking his parole.
After
being released on parole on Friday, Yengeni arrived back at Malmesbury prison
yesterday more than an hour late, which is a breach of the code of conduct for
prisoners.
He should have been back at the jail by 3 pm.
Beeld
managed to trace Yengeni on his cellphone at about 4 pm.
More than 15
minutes later his 4x4, accompanied by two other vehicles, sped past waiting
journalists at the Malmesbury prison gate, reports Mlandeli Puzi.
On the
phone, Yengeni refused to answer any questions, but it sounded as if the well
known struggle tune Umshini wami (Bring my machine gun) was
playing in the background.
He sounded relaxed and in high
spirits.
But Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour was not
amused at his late arrival, according to a spokesman for the department,
Manelisi Wolela.
Yengeni had phoned to say that he had problems with
his vehicle, and this will be taken into account when his
breach is investigated.
The department denied yesterday that he
will be having every weekend off from now on.
Parole leave is only
allowed during the final six months of a prisoner’s sentence and at least three
months has to elapse between two parole weekends, Wolela said.
Yengeni
was subject to strict preconditions, including being home at 8 pm and not being
allowed to drink any liquor.
Wolela said up to 90 prisoners a month are
allowed on weekend parole. Sapa reports Wolela as saying Yengeni will be
released on parole on January 15 next year, when he will have served one-sixth of his sentence, allowing for it to be
converted to correctional supervision. “It’s not really a release, it’s a conversion of sentence under 276 of
the Criminal Procedure Act.”
“Basically, Yengeni was sentenced to
four years. One-sixth of that will be just about four months, and everybody who
was sentenced for crimes besides murder before June last year will benefit from
this. It’s not just Yengeni who will be released, but because he is a public
figure then people are talking about it. Nobody checks up on other prisoners,”
Wolela said.
With acknowledgements to Carien du
Plessis and The Witness.