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Another delay in Yengeni drunken driving case

Cape Town - The drunken driving case against African National Congress national executive committee member Tony Yengeni was postponed again on Tuesday.

He appeared in the Cape District Court before magistrate Nasha Banwari who extended his R500 bail and postponed the case to 5 September.

On 3 June the case was postponed for the defence to submit written representations to the prosecuting authorities for the withdrawal of the charges.

At Tuesday's proceedings, attorney Waheed Badrodien said representations had not yet been submitted, and could not until more details of the charges had been furnished by prosecutor Adiel Jansen.

Badrodien said he had received details, but additional information was needed for a private forensic expert to complete a report.

The expert's report would accompany the representations, he said.

Not yet pleaded

Yengeni had not yet pleaded to charges of drunken driving and reckless and negligent driving.

As an alternative to the drunken driving charge, Yengeni is alleged to have driven with a blood-alcohol level of 0.25%, five times the legal limit of 0.05.

Yengeni was arrested in August last year after City of Cape Town law enforcement officials saw him allegedly driving his Maserati erratically in the Cape Town CBD.

Police later released him on bail and warned him to make his first court appearance on 4 March this year. In a statement issued after his arrest the city's safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith said Yengeni had been one of 52 people arrested during a weekend operation.

Smith alleged that at least one of Yengeni's car number plates was missing at the time.

He said a screening device indicated that Yengeni was substantially over the blood alcohol level.

For this reason Yengeni was taken to the "shadow centre" for a blood sample to be taken and sent to a lab for analysis.

In 2007 Yengeni was arrested in Goodwood Cape Town on a charge of drunken driving but was found not guilty.

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