The African National Congress will wait for the outcome of the appeal by its disgraced former chief whip Tony Yengeni before taking action against him.
This emerged after Yengeni was sentenced to four years in prison in the specialised commercial crime court in Pretoria on Wednesday without the option of a fine for defrauding Parliament. Yengeni was then freed on bail pending his appeal.
”We have noted the sentence, but will issue a comprehensive response once the legal process has taken its due course, especially in view of the fact that [Yengeni] intends to appeal,” Smuts Ngonyama, spokesperson of the ANC, told the Mail & Guardian after sentence was passed.
Ngonyama would not be drawn on what would happen to Yengeni’s seat on the party’s national executive committee, noting instead: ”The internal disciplinary process will take its due course” — a reference to the pending national disciplinary committee hearing. Yengeni’s charges relate to the 47% discount he received for a luxury Mercedes-Benz 4×4 in 1998.
Magistrate Bill Moyses laced his sentencing with a scathing critique on Yengeni. ”What makes the crime even more serious is the planning and ongoing deceit after the benefit became public knowledge,” he said.
Moyses also expressed doubt on whether Yengeni was remorseful, noting: ”You held this court at ransom for a long time with all sorts of fanciful defences.”
The magistrate poured scorn on Yengeni’s legal representative Viwe Notshe’s plea for clemency. In it, Notshe told the court that Yengeni ”fell on his sword and showed remorse” by pleading guilty and asked the court to fine Yengeni R1 000.
”It would appear rather that you were pushed,” Moyses said. He then noted that Yengeni’s resignation as MP was probably the only honourable thing that the court could take into account in his favour. He concluded by saying: ”I regret to say the example you have set as chief whip of the ANC is shocking.”
Yengeni’s replacement, chief whip Nkosinathi Nhleko, issued a statement saying: ”[The ANC] is of the view that the due process of law was followed in the case of Comrade Yengeni.”
At the same time the statement expressed respect for Yengeni’s right to appeal. ”Let us reiterate our commitment to clean, transparent and accountable governance,” it said.
The Democratic Alliance described the sentence as ”appropriately severe”, while the African Christian Democratic Party hailed the punishment as ”a warning to [MPs] that they’re not above the law”.
Yengeni’s bail is an extension of his original R10 000 bail and includes the condition that he must inform the investigating officer if he intends to leave the country.
Approached for comment, Yengeni said he was busy and refused to talk. Messages left for Notshe were not responded to.
Meanwhile, in the specialised commercial crime court on Wednesday, the state withdrew fraud and corruption charges against Yengeni’s co-accused, Michael Woerfel.
His lawyer, Mike Hellens, said that since Yengeni was acquitted of everything that Woerfel was charged with ”the logical conclusion was that the state was unable to prove corruption charges against Woerfel”.