Siyabonga Nqakula, son of Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, dozed off behind the steering wheel of his mother’s car before landing up on the wrong side of the road and smashing head-on into an oncoming car, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday.
Nqakula testified in his own defence before magistrate Phindi Norman on charges of drunken driving and reckless or negligent driving, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
He told the court that he had driven with his brother and two friends from Johannesburg to Cape Town through the night to attend a jazz festival.
He had driven all the way as only he had a driver’s licence.
They left Johannesburg at about 9pm on September 28 last year and had arrived in Cape Town at about 9am the next day.
In Cape Town they had visited friends all day without rest, and they had then dined at a restaurant in the Langa township in the early evening.
He said he was given a small bottle of champagne, from which he had had two small glasses during dinner.
He was not a drinker, and had not had much exposure to liquor.
Questioned by his legal team, advocate Sakkie Maartens and attorney Allan Michalowski, he said he had a third glass of champagne later that evening in the Cape Town CBD.
Being a stranger to Cape Town he had got lost and drove around the CBD, and it was while he was trying to find his way that he dozed off behind the wheel.
He told the court: ”At this stage it was just me and a friend in the car and my friend was talking on his cellphone and not paying any attention to where I was going.
”I dozed off unfortunately and the car veered into the wrong side of the road.
”There was a loud bang as my car collided head-on with another, and this woke me up. After the collision I was afraid and feeling shaky, and had also bumped my head against the steering wheel.”
Asked by prosecutor Tities Mthimunye why his eyes had been bloodshot, according to witnesses, he said he suffered generally from bloodshot eyes and it was not caused by drinking.
Judgment will be given on Tuesday. — Sapa