Former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni, due to report to Pollsmoor prison by Thursday, will be treated like any other prisoner and be subjected to a strip search and have his fingerprints taken.
”We don’t have a category of more important or less important inmates,” Correctional Services ministerial spokesperson Luphumzo Kebeni said on Tuesday.
On Monday the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Yengeni’s application for leave to appeal against a four-year fraud sentence.
Yengeni was expected to serve only eight months. On Tuesday, Kebeni said it was too early to say whether or not Yengeni would be transferred from the notorious Pollsmoor prison, with its entrenched prison gang culture.
A prison official, who wanted to remain anonymous, said high-profile inmates were usually put in single cells for their own protection.
Yengeni’s attorney, Marius du Toit, said he had ”no idea” when exactly his client would report to Pollsmoor, but said if he failed to do so by Thursday a warrant of arrest would be issued.
Attempts to contact Yengeni’s wife, Lumka, failed.
Her personal assistant, Thando, speaking from Mrs Yengeni’s Milnerton constituency office said: ”No comment will be given”.
Phone calls to the Yengeni family home in Gugulethu, Cape Town, were not answered.
Meanwhile, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) noted ”with regret and sadness” the decision by the court to refuse Yengeni’s appeal.
In a statement issued by Zizi Kodwa on Tuesday, it said: ”Through his sacrifices,commitment and bravery, Comrade Tony Yengeni has inspired many young peeople who swelled the ranks of Umkhonto we Sizwe with the sole aim to confront the tyrant apartheid system.”
”During this difficult time, we extend our message of solidarity and support to Comrade Tony Yengeni and the entire Yengeni family,” the youth league said. – Sapa, I-Net Bridge