The drunken-driving charge against former African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Tony Yengeni has not been dropped, a prosecutor at the Parow Regional Court in the Western Cape confirmed on Wednesday.
The prosecutor, who wished to remain anonymous, said earlier reports indicating that charges against Yengeni had been dropped because a blood sample was tampered with were incorrect.
He said the reports resulted from a ”misinterpretation” of the preamble to the charge sheet of former Goodwood police commissioner Sephiwo Hewana, who appeared in court on Wednesday.
Hewana is facing three charges: defeating the ends of justice, inciting perjury and interfering with members of the police.
Yengeni — an ANC national executive committee member and fraud convict — still faces a main count of drunken driving and an alternative count of reckless and negligent driving.
The blood samples that had allegedly been tampered with ”precluded the state from preferring a charge of contravening section 65(2)(a) of the aforesaid [Road Traffic Act] act against Yengeni”, read the charge sheet.
Section 65 (2)(a) points to an alternative charge, and not the main count, of driving a motor vehicle while the concentration of alcohol in one’s blood exceeds the statutory limit.
Yengeni was arrested in November last year after allegedly driving drunk along Giel Basson Drive in Cape Town and landing his black BMW on an island.
He was at the time — and remains — out on parole after his 2003 conviction for defrauding Parliament by failing to disclose a 47% discount on a 4×4 Mercedes-Benz.
His parole conditions included a stipulation that he may not use liquor or drugs — other than those prescribed by a doctor — until September 23 2008, nor may he visit any place where liquor is consumed.
The prosecutor added that Yengeni is still due to appear in court on May 5 after the case against him was postponed to that date on March 19.
Hewana was suspended about a month after the incident and subjected to a disciplinary hearing after he allegedly made conflicting statements about the time Yengeni was arrested.
He was subsequently found guilty of serious misconduct during internal disciplinary hearings and dismissed. He now faces criminal charges related to the incident. The case against him was postponed on Wednesday to May 16. — Sapa