Mbalula vs Yengeni: A history of bad blood

“Tony Yengeni is nothing else but a political casanova.”

This was the dig ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula aimed at the liberation party’s veteran Tony Yengeni on Monday morning in Cape Town, when Mbalula announced that the convicted fraudster would be disciplined by the party.

Mbalula, speaking to the media ahead of the ANC birthday celebrations and rally on 11 January, said Yengeni, along with former member of Parliament Obed Bapela, would hauled before the party’s disciplinary committee for bringing the party into disrepute.

“He [Yengeni] is spewing vagrant political views and views that are embraced by a few malcontents who are opposed to the ANC. He will be charged. I have informed him through an SMS. We will bring him before the disciplinary processes of the ANC so that he explains himself in terms of his membership of the ANC,” Mbalula said in part.

[WATCH] All members of the ANC, irrespective of their rank, position, or station in life, who conduct themselves in an undisciplined manner will be subject to the formal disciplinary processes of the organisation, where they will be required to explain their conduct, ultimately… pic.twitter.com/FYXZVGST3b

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) January 6, 2025

“Tony Yengeni [and] Obed Bapela will be charged this year, by the ANC disciplinary hearing… and others who are almost drunk in the early hours, tweeting, they too will be attended [to] very soon.”

Ostensibly, Yengeni is being disciplined for cosying up to Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and near-constant maligning of the ANC’s formation and participation in the so-called government of national via his X (formerly Twitter) account.

Bapela incurred Mbalula and the ANC’s wrath after allegedly misrepresented the party’s stance on Western Sahara during a personal trip to Morocco.

Bapela purportedly gave Moroccan officials the impression that he had been sent by the ANC to bolster ties between Rabat and Pretoria, a position at odds with the liberation party’s relationship with Morocco due to its “continued colonisation of Western Sahara“.

Yengeni’s charging, unlike Bapela’s, was bound to happen, with barbs traded over the years in the media and X. And this is not the former ANC chief whip’s flirtation with disciplinary action.

In 2021, then-ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said Yengeni, along with Ace Magashule and Carl Niehaus, faced the possibility of appearing before the party’s disciplinary committee when they accused ANC leaders of persecuting Zuma.

“The national working committee [of the ANC] condemned the unbecoming, divisive and defiant behaviour of comrades secretary-general Magashule, Tony Yengeni and Carl Niehaus during the recent court appearance of former president Jacob Zuma. The NWC instructed the national presenter to look into these breaches of discipline and to investigate charges in line with the ANC constitution and code of conduct,” the now-late Duarte said at the time.

Mbalula vs Yengeni: A history of violence

In June 2023, Mbalula jabbed Yengeni by alluding to ANC veteran’s past issues with alcohol.

Mbalula – speaking at the ANC Western Cape conference – was addressing Premier Alan Winde’s comments regarding the arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest for the Russian leader.

In his speech, Mbalula said: “I don’t know with which police he [Winde] thinks he can arrest Putin [with]. He thinks these traffic cops who arrest Tony Yengeni for drunken driving can arrest Putin? He’s playing.”

[LISTEN] Western Cape Premier Alan Winde thinks he can arrest Russian President Putin with these traffic cops that arrested Tony Yengeni for drunk driving.

– says Fikile Mbalula, ANC Secretary-General General pic.twitter.com/fARXM1D2DJ

— Athi Mtongana (@AthiMtongana) June 24, 2023

The following month, Mbalula – in a speech rebuking EFF leader Julius Malema – again took aim at Yengeni by labelling him “ungovernable” and again brought up the issues with alcohol.

“We were in a house when we taught Julius [Malema] economic freedom. I was with that ungovernable Tony Yengeni when we taught him [Malema] economic freedom. And that day Tony Yengeni was sober. Very sober,” said Mbalula, eliciting laughter from the crowd.

Yengeni didn’t appreciate Mbalula’s comments and on 17 July 2023, responded angrily on X.

“I’ve never said anything negative about Mbalula in public… Never! If Mbalula has nothing positive to say about me, then he must keep my name out of his filthy mouth,” said Yengeni.

Yengeni accuses Mbalula of intimidation

Fast-forward a year later to July 2024, when Yengeni accused Mbalula of trying to intimidate him after Yengeni represented Zuma at his ANC disciplinary hearing.

Zuma, who has since been expelled from the ANC, was facing misconduct charges emanating from his founding of the MK Party.

Yengeni, who was representing the former president in the disciplinary proceedings at the time, told SABC News that he had received a text from Mbalula asking him who he thinks he is and accused him of trying to destroy the ANC by representing Zuma.

Long-standing feud?

And it seems Yengeni and Mbalula’s acrimonious relationship is not a recent development.

When Mbalula underwent the Xhosa rite of passage to manhood, it was rumoured at the time that Yengeni was behind the organising the process, albeit through alleged trickery and some mild kidnapping.

“There were claims that he was coerced into attending the initiation school by ANC NEC member Tony Yengeni and others,” the IOL reported at the time.

Comrade Tony Yengeni made you a man @MbalulaFikile is this how you thank him 🤣 pic.twitter.com/yq8zq5EhPZ

— 🅜🅞🅢🅗🅔 (@MosheMo99752010) January 6, 2025

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