Cheating Yengeni leaves wife

The high-profile marriage of political power couple Tony and Lumka Yengeni is on the rocks.

Several people close to the couple in both Cape Town and Johannesburg have confirmed to the Sunday Times that Yengeni has been having an affair with a Cape Town-based stock-broker, Agnes Senokwane, and has moved out of the matri-monial home in Milnerton on the Atlantic seaboard.

The Sunday Times has also established that the convicted fraudster and former ANC chief whip in parliament, who commutes between Johannesburg and Cape Town, now lives with his young lover in a luxury R40000-a-month apartment in Green Point.

Yengeni, 57, is believed to have showered Senokwane, who is apparently in her mid-30s, with lavish gifts, including overseas trips, as well as a Jaguar convertible worth almost R1-million.

ANC MP Lumka did not deny the affair but refused to comment. "No, no, no, I do not want to comment on that," she said.

According to a close friend, Yengeni moved out of their home when the couple came back from the ANC National General Council in September, after Lumka questioned him over the affair. Lumka is said to be receiving medicine related to stress levels, and was admitted to a Cape Town clinic for two weeks after Yengeni left home.

A friend of the couple said Yengeni and Senokwane had been together for more than five years and Senokwane used to visit him while he was in jail.

Lumka, looking stressed, arrived alone at the opening of parliament last week while Yengeni was organising a party for friends at Camps Bay.

Yengeni could not be reached for comment despite messages being left on his cellphone. E-mails were also sent to him and his personal assistant.

Eyebrows were raised when Yengeni was pictured with a woman, later identified as Senokwane, at the recent J&B Met in Cape Town.

A picture of Yengeni in a bright polo shirt and Senokwane in a floral dress with a glamorous, wide-brimmed hat covering her face appeared in the Cape Times newspaper. Its caption mistook Senokwane for Lumka.

The Sunday Times has learnt that Lumka's family demanded that the paper issue a correction .

On her Facebook page, Senokwane posted pictures of her holidaying overseas in Hong Kong, Japan and Monaco.

She also discloses on the site that she is in a relationship and that she hails from Zeerust in the North West.

Senokwane also refused to comment but did not deny the affair, saying: "Please don't call me again."