Publication: Sunday Independent Issued: Date: 2007-01-07 Reporter: Willem Steenkamp Reporter:

More Good News for Yengeni as He Reaches Cell-by Date

 

Publication 

Sunday Independent
Date

2007-01-07

Reporter

 Willem Steenkamp

Web Link

www.sundayindependent.co.za

 

Disgraced former ANC whip Tony Yengeni will walk out of Malmesbury Prison a free man in just eight days after spending a mere 20 weeks of his four-year sentence behind bars.

And amid a new controversy surrounding Yengeni, Dennis Bloem, the correctional services portfolio committee chairperson, says that if anyone has evidence that Yengeni received "special treatment" in prison "they should lay formal charges".

He was reacting to renewed allegations that Yengeni held a party in the prison on Christmas Day, attended by about 17 people who came and went throughout the day.

They included his wife Lumka, who allegedly entertained her husband and guests with special festive snacks.

Inmates at the prison said that some of Cape Town's top politicians also visited Yengeni over the New Year period, but this could not be verified yesterday.

Yengeni's wife refused to comment on this allegation, as well on her husband's imminent release.

This is not the first time allegations of preferential treatment have been levelled at Yengeni and the correctional services department.

Yengeni landed in hot water in November last year when he was photographed, beer in hand, at his house in Milnerton, after being released on his first weekend parole since his incarceration. He was also an hour late in reporting back to Malmesbury Prison after his "weekend pass".

Prisoners are not allowed to drink alcohol when they are out on parole, but a subsequent correctional services probe cleared Yengeni of any parole violations.

In 2003, Yengeni was sentenced to four years in jail after being convicted of fraud related to his acceptance of a discount on a luxury vehicle from one of the bidders in the multibillion-rand arms deal. In August he lost an appeal against his conviction and sentence.

He was seen off by senior ANC colleagues who carried him shoulder-high to the gates of Pollsmoor Prison on August 24, to begin his sentence - sparking an a massive outcry from the public and opposition parties.

Within hours Yengeni was transferred to Malmesbury, a relatively modern and uncrowded prison 60km north of Cape Town where he has been held in a cell in the hospital section of the prison because of "hayfever" problems.

Yesterday, following new reports that Yengeni was given special treatment over the Christmas period, Bloem said the portfolio committee could "not react to each and every new allegation".

"There are 160 000 prisoners behind bars," he said. "If we had to investigate each and every allegation we would not have time to do any other work.

"…to date, no one has laid a formal complaint or presented any concrete facts about the alleged incidents involving Tony Yengeni," Bloem said.

"There are rules and regulations that apply in prison, and when an independent parole board has decided the specific times when inmates can be given parole, such a board would have applied its minds before taking such decisions. We have full confidence in the board and the structures that are in place."

With acknowledgements to Willem Steenkamp and Sunday Independent.


*1       Sentences are set by presiding officers after thorough consideration of facts, circumstances and the applicable law and after representations by both defence and The State on behalf of The People.

In this case the sentence was given out of the Magistrates Court by one of the most senior magistrates in the country and confirmed on appeal by two senior judges of the High Court. The Supreme Court declined to review either the conviction or the sentence.

It is logical that the courts could not possibly have envisioned that the convict serve only 20 weeks of his four-year sentence, i.e. 10%, even if there was remission of sentence for good behaviour or for other factors.

In this case there could be a two-thirds reduction for good behaviour (down from 208 weeks to 70 weeks) plus a further 50% reduction for a non-violent crime. That makes 35 weeks, not 20 weeks - a not insignificant difference.

Yet the ANC chairman of Parliament's Correctional Services Portfolio Committee has the temerity to state that it has full confidence in the Parole Board and the structures that are in place.

Either the Parole Board needs to be investigated for undermining the rule of justice, or the magistrates and judges need to multiply the sentences that they hand down by a factor of eight to twelve.