Cape Town — The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for Parliament’s correctional services committee to discuss the report on former African National Congress (ANC) chief whip and convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni’s alleged parole violations.

Yengeni hit the headlines again a few weeks ago when he was photographed while on a weekend pass from Malmesbury Prison with alcohol in his hand. There were also reports that he left his home after the time that he should have been back at prison. Both instances are violations of his weekend parole conditions.

Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour has assured Parliament that there was no preferential treatment for any prisoners, saying that Yengeni’s privileges would be withdrawn. If parole conditions had been broken, appropriate punishment would be meted out.

The report on the alleged violations was apparently handed to Balfour last week.

In reaction to weekend reports that Yengeni’s privileges had been reinstated and that Balfour had the report, DA MP James Selfe yesterday called for the ANC chairman of the committee, Dennis Bloem, to make copies of the report available and to call a meeting of the committee to “discuss the report and whether it is appropriate to restore Yengeni’s privileges”.

Selfe said a Sunday Independent report claimed that the findings of the probe into Yengeni’s conduct were inconclusive, and Yengeni’s privileges had been restored. However, a departmental spokesman denied this, claiming the minister was studying the report, and that appropriate action would be taken if Yengeni was found to have violated his parole conditions.

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.