DA conspiracy against me, says Yengeni

Tony Yengeni suspected, from a DA councillor’s comments in the media, that there was political influence in his drunk driving case, a court has heard.

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Cape Town - Former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni suspected, from a DA councillor’s comments in the media, there was political influence in his drunk driving case, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Friday.

The comments, coupled with the fact that tests to determine his blood-alcohol level were fast-tracked, had led him to suspect “something’s cooking here” and “there’s a conspiracy”.

The former politician turned business consultant finally took the witness stand on Friday after almost three years, initially responding calmly and confidently to questions.

But his demeanour changed when prosecutor Leon Snyman insisted he explain why State witnesses would lie to the court about the events surrounding his August 2013 arrest.

With a slightly raised and angry voice, he responded that he discovered the DA had taken a keen interest in his case.

Shortly after his arrest, he had read a newspaper report in which a DA councillor commented on his arrest, saying authorities had to do everything to ensure his prosecution.

“I took exception to that.”

He could not recall the precise comments and did not name the councillor.

Then, when the results of his blood alcohol tests were ready within two weeks, his suspicions were raised further.

According to Yengeni, police warned him he was in for a long wait because there was a massive backlog at the police laboratory.

But two weeks later the results were ready.

Earlier in the trial, it emerged that the day after Yengeni was arrested, the senior public prosecutor had asked that the testing of his blood sample be prioritised. Yengeni questioned this, saying it was unfair to others who had been waiting.

Snyman said there were many cases in which the senior prosecutor made such requests.

But Yengeni was unconvinced.

“I am talking about my case. Why me and not the other blood (tests) behind me?” he asked.

He became so irritated at times that magistrate Grant Engel had to intervene.

The former politician was arrested in Green Point in August 2013, after being spotted allegedly driving his white Maserati erratically.

The blood alcohol results showed he was over the legal limit of 0.05mg per 100ml of blood.

During his evidence-in-chief, he conceded he had consumed alcohol, but denied being inebriated.

He said he had a few sips of umqombothi, a traditional Xhosa beer, at a family ritual in Gugulethu several hours before he was arrested.

“I drank umqombothi many times and I can tell you this, you can’t get intoxicated from drinking two or three sips,” he said.

He did not drink anything else and ate only one serving of food.

The case was postponed to June 7, when Yengeni is expected to call two experts to testify about the effect of bad laboratory processes on the testing of samples.

fatima.schroeder@inl.co.za

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