Tony Yengeni is not receiving preferential treatment at Malmesbury prison, the acting head of the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons (JIP) said on Friday.
”Our conclusion is that he was treated no different to any other offender in that [hospital] section,” said Cape High Court Judge Nathan Erasmus, following the surprise visit to the prison earlier in the day.
Yengeni is serving a four-year fraud sentence after losing a lengthy court battle to escape imprisonment. This followed his acceptance of an undeclared discount from one of the government’s controversial arms deal bidders.
In terms of his sentence, Yengeni, who is classified as a Medium B prisoner, is allowed to only serve one-sixth of his sentence before being considered for release under correctional supervision.
Erasmus said he didn’t know exactly when Yengeni would be released, but said it was a ”very short sentence”.
According to Erasmus, Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour had ”independently” requested on September 6 that allegations of favouritism involving Yengeni be investigated.
The JIP investigation had two legs and sought to discover if Yengeni’s conditions of imprisonment were different to other offenders, and if he was receiving privileges other prisoners were not.
”He was wearing prison clothes. He sleeps on a single bed screwed on the wall, it’s impossible to get a double-bed in … There is no big-screen TV, nothing special,” Erasmus said after his visit.
Media speculation was rife that Yengeni was receiving five-star treatment at Malmesbury, after being whisked away to that facility from the notorious Pollsmoor prison where he reported on his first day of imprisonment on August 24.
Erasmus said Balfour was informed verbally of Friday’s visit and its conclusions.
Asked about reports, which surfaced that Balfour was part of a leading government delegation that feted Yengeni when he reported to Pollsmoor, Erasmus said an inquiry into the alleged goings-on proved that it was ”unsubstantiated”.
Erasmus denied that JIP’s Malmesbury visit was triggered by a call by the South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) to strike should Yengeni be found to have been pampered.
”The main motivation for us is that all prisoners should be treated humanely and equally,” said Erasmus.
However, he conceded that Sapohr’s call and ongoing media speculation could have caused ”chaos in the prison” and led to Yengeni’s life, as well the lives of wardens deemed sympathetic to him, being placed in danger.
”It must be said that what to me about the Yengeni incident is very discomforting … is that people can manipulate facts and allegations and then feed them to the media, which has the potential for far-reaching and dangerous effects,” said Erasmus, adding that Sapohr’s strike call was very ”irresponsible”. — Sapa