Publication: The Witness Issued: Date: 2007-01-12 Reporter: Carien du Plessis Reporter:

Yengeni's Warm Jail Memories

 

Publication 

The Witness
Date 2007-01-12

Reporter

 Carien du Plessis

Web Link

www.witness.co.za

 

Lots of high-profile visitors and plenty of rules ben during his short stay

When Tony Yengeni drives away from Malmesbury prison on Monday he will have pleasant memories of his treatment there, and the many friends who visited him during his four months behind bars.

It seems that a rather large number of prison regulations were waived for the ANC’s former chief whip.

Besides his wife Lumka’s visit on Christmas Day with a basket of goodies for him, Yengeni was also able to see luminaries such as Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu and Anglican Archbishop Njonkulu Ndungane.

Politicians who came included Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Western Cape MECs Marius Fransman and Kholeka Mqulwana, and ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha. The acting inspecting judge of prisons, Judge Nathan Erasmus, and human rights advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, SC, also called in at the jail.

These visits are said to have flouted a number of prison rules.

Yengeni’s jail term began with a triumphant march, in the company of senior politicians, to Pollsmoor on August 24 last year. With various discounts, his term for fraud was reduced to just four months.

Yengeni, who was apparently regarded as a “political” prisoner by some correctional service officials, had 17 visitors on Christmas Day.

Despite protestations by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) that Yengeni was not given preferential treatment, his family visits did not meet the department’s specifications for his prisoner category.

Specifications state that an A category prisoner in a medium security jail, like Yengeni should receive no more than two visitors at a time.

DCS also claimed that its policy allowed Yengeni’s wife to take food to him, as she apparently did on a regular basis, but in fact the rules state that she could only buy food for him from the prison canteen.

Some other anomalies:

•her visits lasted up to three hours, instead of the specified maximum 45 minutes, five times a month;

•she was spared the embarrassment of being frisked, like all other visitors;

•Yengeni was allowed out at 7 am for a jog on the prison sports field, before other prisoners are up.

James Selfe of the DA said yesterday he has sent questions to Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour about the way prison rules were allegedly flouted. “It is very clear that Yengeni is the ANC’s favourite prison inmate,” he said.

ANC MP and chairman of the correctional services portfolio committee Dennis Bloem said earlier that any irregularities will be investigated.

Lukas Muntingh of the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative said whether or not the allegations prove true it is dangerous to create the perception that certain prisoners get special treatment.

“It not only affects the way the public sees the prison system, it also has the potential to create conflict inside our prisons,” he said.

Yengeni was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud, but in terms of a presidential pardon in May 2005 he got 20 months off.

He was sentenced in terms of article 276 1(i) of the Criminal Procedure Act, which means that after serving a sixth of his remaining jail term, he could be considered for release under correctional supervision.

Although this period expires on Saturday, the parole board decided in October last year that he would be released on Monday, January 15.

Once he is out, Yengeni will still be subject to certain conditions imposed in terms of the correctional service act, such as no abuse of alcohol.

With acknowledgements to Carien du Plessis and The Witness.