Weekly Mail Reporter
POLICE in Cape Town are investigating charges of assault against MP Tony Yengeni, after a man suspected to be implicated in the murder of Yengeni’s bodyguard was allegedly beaten before being handed over to the police.
Chumi Siyeka was one of five people picked up on June 1 in connection with the murder of Mvuleni Yengeni, a cousin and bodyguard of Tony Yengeni. Police representative Colonel Raymond Dowd said that “Tony Yengeni and his people were instrumental in the arrest of Siyeka”.
After he was handed over to the police, Siyeka laid a charge of assault against Yengeni.
Dowd said Yengeni had been within his rights in making a citizen’s arrest, but that police were investigating whether “undue force” had been used during the arrest. “You must understand that in the townships there are a lot of civic bodies which have their own crime-prevention methods,” he added.
Witnesses say Siyeka was bruised and bandaged when he appeared in court after his arrest.
He was allegedly assaulted again by a member of the public as he stood in the dock while his bail application was being heard at the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrate’s Court on June 24. A Justice Department representative said no charges were laid because nobody present was able to identify the individual who assaulted Siyeka.
Tony Yengeni was the Western Cape regional secretary of the ANC until 1993. He was rumoured to be making a bid for the regional chair at the ANC’s recent regional congress, but declined to stand for the position — prompted, he said, by his “political instincts”.
Formerly the head of Umkhonto weSizwe in the Western Cape, he was recently appointed chair of the parliamentary joint standing committee on defence.