Convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni walked out of the gates of Malmesbury Prison to a hero's welcome from ANC comrades today and headed home for a reunion with his family at their home in Gugulethu.

The former chief whip of the ANC was released under Correctional Services supervision after serving just over four months of a four- year sentence.

He arrived home in a black Mercedes-Benz CLS. Women began ululating and he hugged his father Leslie before he was handed a spear by his younger brother, Ndodana.

The family spear is normally used to stab a sheep or goat for a ritual ceremony.

Yengeni was given a bekile of mqombothi (traditional beer).

ANC provincial chairman James Ngculu, provincial ANC secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha and ANC Youth League members were among the 100-odd people outside the house to greet him.

Only family and elders were allowed inside the house.

Inside the house a prayer session was held. A full ritual ceremony, including the slaughtering, was planned for Saturday.

A Correctional Services official arrived later and kept a low profile while watching proceedings.

Outside the house, Leslie Yengeni told the Cape Argus: "I am obviously happy, but don't want to say anything more."

It was 10.25 am when Yengeni walked out of Malmesbury prison and declared: "It is a great day for me, for my family and for the movement.

"A lot of things have been said about me from the beginning of the trial until now. I need time to respond to those issues, but today is not the right time, not the right place."

Yengeni said he would consult the ANC leadership and his family, so that his response would be "comprehensive".

He thanked the crowd "from the bottom of my heart".

He told them: "The problem in this country is not me, the problem is not Zuma, the problem is not Mbeki, the problem we are facing is poverty. Ninety-nine percent of the economy is in 5% of the population's hands."

A welcoming party had gathered outside the prison just after 8am, as convicts peered between cell bars to watch proceedings.

At 8.25am, a convoy of black luxury vehicles arrived at the gates and was allowed to drive into the prison.

Among the arrivals were Yengeni's wife, Lumka, Yengeni's son Mandla and Skwatsha.

A group of Yengeni's friends was also allowed to walk through the prison gates.

The media were instructed to wait outside.

In the adjacent parking lot, members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and local ANC members broadcast music from the roof of a vehicle.

"There are no huge plans, a few provincial leaders will welcome him at the prison and then drive with him to his father's home. We will have a few prayers and Tony will say something," Skwatsha said earlier.

"The most important thing is that Tony is being released today."

ANC provincial chairman James Ngculu said: "We are happy that he's leaving prison to be with his family.

"He is going to be a free man and we wish him well and I trust that he will observe his parole conditions strictly," Ngculu said.

Yesterday, Yengeni was told of the conditions of his release by Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour during a visit to the prison. Among these are four hours of "spare time" a week.

But a visit to a party or other social gathering would violate the terms, according to prison sources dealing with his release.

A prison source explained: "This is a continuation of sentence outside Correctional Services custody and places the offender effectively under house arrest within the confines of very strict regulations."

"Mr Yengeni will serve his sentence under correctional supervision until his release in January 2008.

The DA spokesman on correctional services, James Selfe, said Yengeni's release "constitutes the last act in the farce that had characterised his imprisonment".

ID leader Patricia de Lille said it was "disgusting" that Yengeni had served such a short term.

"This is no example to ordinary South Africans, the millions to whom we must prove that justice is dished out fairly to all.

"While the fact that Yengeni was jailed sent out the right message, his early release does a lot to cancel that out," De Lille said.

With acknowledgement to Sivuyile Mangxamba, Murray Williams, Zara Nicholson, Norman Joseph and Cape Argus.