MK veterans slam 'demonisation' of Yengeni

The Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans’ Association (MKVA) has condemned what it says is the “demonisation” of former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni by “certain elements in the media and elsewhere”.

“Comrade Tony Yengeni never stole any money nor killed anybody,” the association said in a statement on Friday.

Yengeni, who is serving parole after being jailed for fraud, was this week elected to the ANC’s national working committee.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said in reaction to his election that the party leadership had been “irreversibly captured by populists, careerists and convicted criminals”.

The MKMVA said Yengeni was a member of the association and a former Umkhonto weSizwe commander.

“Therefore we stand by our elected leadership,” it said. “Therefore we say: ‘Hands off Tony Yengeni’.”

“The very same DA protected Magnus Malan and Adria[a]n Vlok, who are members of the latter and are criminals against humanity but are protected with all costs by the opposition, which in turn condemns our democratic processes when people are elected.”

Malan and Vlok were apartheid-era ministers of defence and police.—Sapa