Pollsmoor was no ordinary prison yesterday.

Gone were the usual routines, the glimpses of prisoners and warders walking about beyond the gates, of police vans coming and going.

Instead, all this was replaced by the presence of flashy government cars and crowds of supporters who had come to the prison to show their solidarity with convicted former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni.

Traffic came to a standstill in Steenberg Road during lunch hour as hundreds of people and ANC members gathered at the main entrance. They chanted freedom songs and shouted slogans as part of the send-off for Yengeni.

ANC leaders addressed the crowd, committing themselves to supporting the man who was about to be imprisoned.

Then it was time for Yengeni to speak.

He thanked his wife, Lumka, his children, and his supporters for their constant support and prayers.

When he told the gathering that prison would make him even stronger, his sympathetic supporters cheered and nodded.

For some, battling to control their tears, the emotional send-off was too much.

Some of them openly wiped tears from their eyes, while others urged their disgraced leader, in low voices, to be strong, referring to him as Hlathi, Yengeni's clan name.

A weepy woman supporter from Ocean View, who didn't want to be named, said this was a sad day for the black community, whom Yengeni had fought for.

"I feel very sad.

"Tony has come a long way ... he is right when he says the prison will make him stronger.

"Those that conspire against him will be the next to go to jail."

Lynette Mtyandela from Khayelitsha said: "I'm very disappointed with what I see here today.

"He didn't kill anybody, yet he is being jailed.

"The murderers are walking free in our communities.

"But I hope this will make him stronger."

His parents were tight-lipped about how they felt about the imprisonment of their son.

Standing by her man, Lumka Yengeni and her two children, Mandla, 22, and Nandi,15, entered the prison hand-in-hand, leaving the supporters, journalists and some relatives behind them.

A heated argument broke out between prison officials, family members and Yengeni's friends, who were trying to push their way through the gates.

Journalists and photographers were pushed aside by angry government officials trying to get the last glimpse of Yengeni before he went to his cell.

A woman who claimed to be a member of Yengeni's family became abusive and cried angrily as she tried to force her way between the prison officials demanding to be let inside to see "my brother".

"You are allowing people who don't even know Tony to come inside, but you are leaving his real family behind. You are not doing your job properly," she told the officials.

But they wouldn't let her in as she was not in the family list.

Male and female prison warders - in full uniform - ran alongside Yengeni as he and his supporters toyi-toyied towards the Pollsmoor Prison gates.

The warders, who were meant to follow the entourage to help keep law and order, appeared overcome with emotion and sympathy for Yengeni and joined the fray on foot, walking and running right alongside him.

This evoked angry responses from passing motorists who appeared to be irritated, most of them shaking their heads, sounding their hooters, and some shouting from their car: "What the hell is happening here?" and "What a disgrace!".

Other motorists muttered as they eyed Premier Ebrahim Rasool, the ANC's Max Ozinsky, James Ngculu, Dawood Khan and others who were a few paces behind Yengeni.

Even Kirstenbosch police Inspector Rodney Franks came under fire, with some motorists refusing to move and stop as he directed them to.

It was only when a few metres away from the main entrance gates that the warders realised that their superiors and colleagues were visibly angry at their performance, and they ducked out from under the ANC banner, which had been carried all the way by party supporters Karel van Rooy and Geoffrey Oliphant.

With acknowledgement to Sipokazi Maposa, Norman Joseph and Cape Argus.