Withholding information on fraudster Tony Yengeni's parole conditions amounted to a breach of a promise made by Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour to the public of South Africa, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said yesterday.
"The rejection of the request [for information] is a breach of the
promise that the Minister of Correctional Services made to the
public of South Africa that he would ensure that the DCS was open,
transparent and accountable in all its dealings," said the
opposition party's spokesperson on correctional services James
Selfe.
"In addition, DCS [correctional services] is always saying that
correctional supervision is a societal responsibility.
Society cannot understand its responsibility in respect to Tony
Yengeni's conditions unless it knows what the conditions are."
Selfe's statement followed the rejection of an application by
the DA to the department for Yengeni's parole conditions.
The DA's application, through the Promotion of Access to
Information Act, was declined by the department saying the request
for "record pertaining...to his sentence for fraud" was "too
wide", according to the party.
Selfe said the department had deliberately misunderstood the
request.
He said the request was "not a 'wide' concept" rather a "simple
request which entails accessing a file".
Yengeni was convicted in 2003 of defrauding parliament by
failing to disclose a 47% discount on a luxury 4X4
Mercedes-Benz.
He failed to win an appeal against his four-year sentence and
was sent to the Malmesbury prison in August last year.
His time in prison, while brief, was characterised by
controversy - he was investigated after he contravened the prisoner
code of conduct by consuming alcohol and arriving late back at the
prison during weekend parole.
