Madam Deputy Speaker, recent media reports and photographs of Mr Tony Yengeni's weekend parole do nothing to create confidence in either the criminal justice system or in the ANC's reported commitment to combat corruption.
Mr Yengeni was originally sentenced to eight years. This was later reduced to four years on appeal, but he is by all accounts going to serve less than four months. On his weekend parole he was pictured with a beer in his hand. He reported back to prison late. Section 44, read with section 117 of the Correctional Services Act, provides that a prisoner who fails to return to prison at the specified time can be sentenced to a fine or to imprisonment of not more than 10 years. These provisions must now be applied.
Mr Yengeni has effectively shown the department and his parole board the finger. He clearly believes that he is above the law. Both the effective sentence that he will serve and the clear contempt of his parole conditions send a message to South Africa. That message is that there's one law for the politically connected and another, harsher law for the ordinary man and woman in the street. [Applause.]