‘Teach ANC hypocrites a lesson’

Call for ‘madam from hell’ Yengeni to be axed for allegedly ill-treating her maid

ALL ANC MPs‚ ministers‚ premiers‚ mayors‚ MECs and councillors should be visited by independent, honest labour inspectors to see how compliant they were with the laws the party makes and enforces on everyone else‚ the Congress of the People (COPE) said yesterday.

The party was reacting to a report in the Sunday Times that Lumka Yengeni‚ the senior ANC MP who chairs parliament’s portfolio committee on labour‚ was found guilty at the Commission for Conciliation‚ Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) of violating the country’s labour laws.

The newspaper reported that the senior ANC MP‚ the estranged wife of ANC bigwig Tony Yengeni‚ had forced her maid to work 24-hour days‚ paid her below the minimum wage and refused to grant her leave.

Lucia Dlephu took Yengeni to the CCMA after the MP fired her on February 14‚ the article said. Ironically‚ Yengeni‚ who models herself as a champion of workers’ rights‚ slammed employers last year for exploiting workers.

The DA has called for Yengeni to be axed from the committee and replaced with someone who actually cares about the rights of workers.

Noting it was not the first time that an ANC official had been caught allegedly abusing workers, DA labour spokesman Ian Ollis said: “For example‚ Agriculture Minister Senzani Zokwana was widely reported in the media to have paid his farm workers R26 a day‚ far below the agriculture minimum wage.

“Both Zokwana and Yengeni have been outspoken campaigners for minimum wages and better conditions for workers.

“Mrs Yengeni has even referred to employers as slave traders because she was purportedly ‘unhappy’ with the wages being paid.

“Yet she does this very thing herself.

“This hypocrisy is simply unacceptable.”

COPE spokesman Dennis Bloem said the story about Yengeni being a “madam from hell”, while ironically being the portfolio chairwoman on labour as well, highlighted a disjunction between “what is professed and what is practised by the regnant [ruling] political elite of our country”.

“The ANC makes laws for others to follow‚ and for them [party officials] to break with impunity,” Bloem said.

“Is there any doubt that the ANC and its leader‚ in particular‚ have begun to believe that they are above the law?

“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

“Too much power in the hands of too few is certainly catastrophic for governance and tragic for democracy.

“That . . . Yengeni has been identified as a madam from hell, while being a lawmaker on labour issues as well‚ indicates her total unsuitability for political office.

“All ANC MPs‚ [cabinet] ministers‚ premiers‚ mayors‚ MECs and councillors should be visited by independent and honest labour inspectors to see how compliant they are with the laws the ruling party enforces on everyone else.

“If they . . . say one thing and do the very opposite‚ they should be kicked out.

“If the ruling party refuses to do that and stomachs such hypocrisy‚ voters should reject the party at the polls. “The regnant elite must be taught a stinging lesson,” Bloem said.

“This is a golden opportunity for voters to punish the ruling party for its serial corruption‚ its continuous wrongdoing‚ its unacceptable abuse of power and its glaring hypocrisy.”