Johannesburg – It has emerged that senior African National Congress (ANC) member Tony Yengeni does not qualify for any party leadership position because of his criminal record.
On Friday the ANC Electoral Committee wrote to Yengeni advising him that: “The vetting information at our disposal reveals that you have a historical record of being found guilty of a serious crime in a court of law for which the prison sentence has been more than six months.
“To be specific, you are summarily disqualified as a candidate for all NEC [National Executive Committee] positions including additional members during the 55th National Conference.”
The conference to elect new leaders takes place from 16 to 20 December 2022 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, Gauteng.
Through a combination of a presidential 20-month amnesty and parole eligibility, 68-year-old Yengeni only served four months of a four-year prison sentence for fraud related to the multi-billion-rand controversial arms deal.
He was locked up at Pollsmoor Prison, near Cape Town, on 24 August 2006 and was released on parole on 15 January 2007.
The Electoral Committee letter addressed to Yengeni, dated 9 December 2022, said the ANC expects the highest moral and ethical standards from its NEC leaders.
Yengeni, who joined the ANC in 1976 and later its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, is the second high-profile ANC member to be disqualified just days before the conference.
Earlier this week former ANC Women’s League leader, Bathabile Dlamini, was disqualified after the vetting process administered by Elexions – an agency of the Electoral Committee – flagged her conviction for committing a crime.
This year in March, the former social development minister was found guilty of perjury after lying under oath while giving evidence at the SASSA hearings in 2017 regarding her role in the agency’s near collapse.
Dlamini was slapped with a suspended sentence of four years and a R200 000 fine.
Dlamini, who received over 800 branch nominations to form part of the new NEC, has indicated that she intends to challenge the disqualification.
