He's regarded as a model parolee, reports Lynnette Johns

Even though convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni has a drunk driving charge pending against him, he can fly across the country on ANC business because he is a "model parolee" who requires almost no supervision.

The Department of Correctional Services says that because the newly elected member of the ANC national executive committee and national working committee (NWC) has proved to be a "model parolee", his parole conditions have been considerably relaxed. This will allow Yengeni, who spent four months in jail in 2006 and is on parole until September, to do party work.

And at a joint press conference called by the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association and the South African Security Forces'' Union at the ANC's provincial office in Cape Town yesterday, he was defended as a leader of the people. He had not had a fair trial and had been "conned" by the then National Prosecuting Authority boss, Bulelani Ngcuka.

Yengeni was held up as a hero of the struggle. "He can lead the people," said Mbulelo Mabala, the national deputy chairperson of the veterans' association.

Yengeni's parole conditions, after serving time for receiving a huge discount on a 4x4 Mercedes from a company involved in the controversial arms deal, saw him placed under house detention and unable to leave the Cape Town magisterial district without permission from the head of Community Corrections. But Correctional Services said that because Yengeni had proved to be a "model parolee", his parole conditions had been drastically relaxed. The convicted fraudster is a "phase five level parolee" and as such his parole officer may only want to see him "about twice a month".

Phase five level parolees are given far more privileges than a phase one level parolee, so it was possible for Yengeni to fly to Polokwane, or to ANC president Jacob Zuma's Christmas party in KwaZulu Natal, or to Luthuli House, the ANC headquarters in Joburg.

But Correctional Services spokesperson Phumlani Ximiya emphasised Yengeni was not allowed to "abuse" alcohol - as opposed to "use" alcohol.

Despite being charged with drunk driving after an incident in Goodwood last month, Ximiya said Yengeni was not in contravention of his parole conditions because he had not been found guilty. He will appear in court again in March.

Yengeni emerged from Malmesbury Prison last year after serving less than four months of a four- year sentence. The flamboyant former MK commander got into hot water for his penchant for luxury German cars. During the investigation into the arms deal it emerged that Yengeni had received a huge discount on a 4x4 Mercedes.

At the time he headed the joint standing committee on defence. He was sacked, tried, found guilty and subsequently jailed. He entered prison like a hero, surrounded by his ANC comrades, who welcomed him again when he was released.

Speaking yesterday, Fatty Booi, a veterans' association executive member, said Yengeni had done nothing wrong. "He explained to his comrades that he had been conned and had never had a fair trial. Comrade Bulelani [Ngcuka] came to him as a comrade and told him what to say, and he trusted him.

"He told us that had he known the plea-bargaining was going to go the way it did, he would never had done it."

Mabala added: "Just because he went to prison does not make him a criminal."

The press conference was called to defend Yengeni following Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille's accusation that the ANC had been "irreversibly captured by populists, careerists and convicted criminals".

She said in a statement this week: "This is a party willing to sacrifice principle at the altar of power, as the election of Tony Yengeni's election to the NWC amply demonstrates."

The ANC hit back at the DA yesterday, saying the party's leaders had been criminals when they governed the country (as the National Party).

"Tony Yengeni never stole any money, nor killed anybody. The same DA protected their members Magnus Malan and Adriaan Vlok, who are criminals against humanity but are protected at all costs by the opposition, which in turn condemns our democratic processes when people are elected," said Mabala.

With acknowledgements to Lynnette Johns and The Star.