Zuma appoints former ANC bigwig as MK deputy president

uMkhonto weSizwe president Jacob Zuma has appointed a second deputy president, former African National Congress (ANC) Chief Whip and close Zuma ally Tony Yengeni. 

Yengeni will serve as second deputy president. He will work alongside and not replace current deputy president, Dr John Hlope. 

Hlope will focus on the duties of parliament and as such, will not be able to be present in the main MK offices. Yengeni will take on the task of strengthening the work of the party, according to Zuma. 

“MK is growing. It is one of the bigger parties in the country and is there to change the situation of our country. Those who have been given a chance have failed,” said Zuma. 

Zuma praised Yengeni for his loyalty before announcing his new role in the leadership of MK. He said that, as he is getting older, the party requires more support. 

“In moments of crisis, we turn to those we trust most,” Yengeni said in a press briefing on Thursday, 23 October. “The bond we formed in exile, in parliament and in prison endures.”

Yengeni welcomed his new position, reiterating his support for Zuma, and said that “the problem of our country’s leadership is that leaders love themselves more than they love this country.”

“Zuma has demonstrated undying love for his country. Even in his advanced age, he continues the struggle,” he said. 

Yengeni’s political journey and fraud convictions

Yengeni has been a long-standing ANC figure, joining in 1976 and playing a key role in the anti-apartheid struggle as an Umkhonto we Sizwe operative, including leading underground operations in Cape Town until his 1987 arrest.

He served as Western Cape Regional Secretary, helped mobilize support for the 1994 elections, and was on the ANC National Executive Committee from 1991 to 1994 and 2007 to 2022.

In Parliament from 1994 to 2003, he chaired the Joint Standing Committee on Defence and was Chief Whip of the Majority Party before resigning over a fraud conviction.

Yengeni was previously jailed in 2006 for lying to parliament over a luxury Mercedes-Benz he received from a defence contractor during the 1999 Arms Deal case, a case implicating Zuma as well.

The Arms Deal, a R30 billion military procurement from European firms like Thales, remains mired in claims of kickbacks and political interference.

Broadly, the deal involved purchasing fighter jets, submarines, frigates, and helicopters from international suppliers, primarily European companies like BAE Systems, Saab, and Thales.

Within months, suspicions of bribery, conflicts of interest and procedural violations triggered official investigations.

It became a decades-long scandal due to widespread allegations of corruption, fraud, and political interference, implicating high-profile figures, including politicians, arms dealers, and intermediaries.

Yengeni was convicted alongside Schabir Shaik, who solicited a bribe from Thales on Zuma’s behalf, related to the arms deal.

Shaik received a 15-year sentence but was released on medical parole in March 2009 after serving about two and a half years, citing terminal illness.

Yengeni was sentenced to four years in prison but served only five months and was released on parole in January 2007. 

He said Zuma visited him during his five months in prison, and later in 2021, when Zuma was jailed, he was one of the masses that gathered at Nkandla to demand his release.

Yengeni touched on his prior conviction, saying that the case was “politically motivated” and “thoroughly shameful in the way it was handled.”

Yengeni later chaired the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises and the ANC Integrity Commission.

Following Zuma’s expulsion, Yengeni became a vocal critic of Ramaphosa’s presidency, openly opposing his re-election in 2022. 

He was dropped from the ANC’s National Executive Committee in 2022. But continued to act as Zuma’s representative in the ANC during his 2024 disciplinary case.

In January 2025, ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbulula said that Yengeni would be charged for bringing the ANC into disrepute. This followed social media posts by Yengeni criticising ANC management.