Tony Yengeni appeals nomination disqualification from ANC elective conference
Former Member of Parliament (MP) Tony Yengeni moved to appeal his disqualification from standing for a position in the upcoming African National Congress (ANC) national elective conference.
Yengeni received a letter last week from the ANC’s chairperson of the electoral committee, Kgalema Motlanthe, indicating that he was disqualified from standing for a position due to his criminal record.
In 2003, Yengeni was sentenced to four years imprisonment after being found guilty of defrauding Parliament when he did not disclose a 47% discount he received for a Mercedes Benz car in 1998.
The discount was organized by a representative of Daimler-Benz Aerospace, one of the bidders of the controversial multi-billion-rand arms deal that Yengeni oversaw at the time as the chairperson of Parliament’s joint-standing committee on defence.
The ANC stalwart said that his criminal record was expunged by the Department of Justice and, therefore, he should be free to contest for a leadership position in the party.
Eyewitness News reached out to the justice department to verify this but has not received a response.
In a letter addressed to Motlanthe, Yengeni said the committee, which was established in 2017, could not punish him for a crime he was sentenced for many years ago.
Yengeni has been a member of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) since 2007.
His name did not appear on the list of 200 candidates nominated for the 86-member committee, meaning that he would have to be nominated from the floor on the day of the conference to make it on the ballot.
Yengeni said he was considering all his legal options pertaining to the conference, which is set to kick off on 16 December 2022.
-EWN
In other news – Halala! Ex-Minister Malusi Gigaba getting married for the third time
Former Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of South Africa, Malusi Gigaba is set to get married for the third time, according to Zimoja.
The 51-year-old politician, who has also held office as the Minister of Public Enterprise, is said to have paid lobola for his Eswatini fiancée, Nomfundo Fakudze. The publication reports that Gigaba sent his uncles to the Kingdom of Eswatini in Manzini this past weekend. Learn More
