ANC bigwig Tony Yengeni has told a court he was not drunk when he was arrested in 2013 in Cape Town.
The African National Congress National Executive Committee member appeared at the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court yesterday for the incident which happened on August 11, 2013, in Green Point.
He conceded to driving erratically after video footage in the court showed him swerving over a barrier line.
But Yengeni told the court: “If I was five times over the legal limit, I would have caused a serious accident. I don’t agree with the state’s case that I was drunk.”
The ANC veteran believes the case against him is a political conspiracy engineered by the Democratic Alliance.
His blood samples were analysed within two weeks of being taken, although the forensic laboratory usually battled backlogs.
“I’m asking myself, why is it that my blood is so important it must jump the queue?” he asked.
Yengeni has insisted that he had just “three sips of African beer” on the day of his arrest and that he was not dronk.
His defence lawyer Dirk Uijs submitted a statement by DA MP Diane Kohler-Barnard released the day after Yengeni’s arrest, as well as an email written by a senior prosecutor to the forensic laboratory instructing them to expedite his matter.
The DA statement called for justice to take its course and referred to drunk driving charges levelled against Yengeni in 2007.
Magistrate Grant Engel postponed the case to June 24 when experts will be called to testify.