Cape Town — Former African National Congress (ANC) MP and chief whip Tony Yengeni was given a hero’s send-off yesterday by high-ranking ANC leaders, government ministers and MPs, before entering Pollsmoor prison where he is to serve a four-year sentence for fraud.

Yengeni was convicted in March 2003 on a charge of fraud for failing to disclose to Parliament a 47% discount he received on the purchase of a luxury car, facilitated by a company involved in SA’s arms deal.

On Monday Yengeni lost an application for leave to appeal his four-year jail sentence. In terms of the sentence conditions, he is eligible for release in eight months’ time, possibly even four months, if a general presidential amnesty were taken into consideration.

Yesterday he said his incarceration was “a travesty of justice”. He said going to prison would be “difficult” for him, but he was sure to emerge from the experience stronger and vowed to continue with his ANC activities

He said a “patently” parliamentary issue in which Parliament was supposed to have dealt with his transgression in terms of parliamentary rules was “hijacked and criminalised”. He accused the media of distorting the facts in their reporting on what he had actually done, saying “you’d think I’d broken into Parliament and stolen the safe”.

An emotional Yengeni was supported earlier by Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, and high-ranking ANC Western Cape officials who visited his home in Milnerton.

From there he was trans- ported in a luxury 4X4, part of a cavalcade of luxury cars, to Pollsmoor prison in Tokai.

Outside the prison, Yengeni, Rasool, ANC Western Cape chairman James Ngculu and other party officials addressed a 500-strong crowd of singing and cheering supporters, including some prison warders in uniform.

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete arrived just in time to say their farewell. Yengeni walked through the prison gates about 1.45pm to report to prison authorities.

The show of solidarity from high-ranking ANC ministers and Rasool has elicited scorn from the Democratic Alliance, with chief whip Douglas Gibson saying the display was “nothing less than a disgrace”.

“This ‘hero’s parade’ sets an appalling example to ANC members and to the rest of the country and flies in the face of President Mbeki’s stance on corruption,” said Gibson. “It is disgraceful and disappointing that senior figures in the ANC can treat Yengeni as a hero when they should in fact be using him as an example of how not to behave in public office,” said Gibson.

But Rasool dismissed Gibson’s criticism, saying hypocrisy was worse than fraud. He was referring to money the DA had accepted from fraud Jurgen Harksen, and accusations that the ANC had accepted money from mining magnate Brett Kebble, while the DA itself had accepted funds from him.

With acknowledgements to Chris van Gass and Business Day.