Third charge for Mkhize's driver
2012-08-02 12:45
ZWELI MKHIZE: His driver has been caught and charged with speeding, being intoxicated and carrying a firearm while intoxicared. Zweli Mkhize's
KZN premier Zweli Mkhize's driver who was arrested for speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol on July 31, was also in possession of a firearm at the time - a triple whammy.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson said Maziwinkosi Petros Gwala, who appeared briefly in the Mtunzini Magistrate's Court on Wednesday morning on charges of speeding and drunken driving, was also charged with being in possession of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.
He was released on R1000 bail.
CASE POSTPONED
The 42-year-old was driving on the N2 at Fairbreeze, near Mtunzini on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, when the Mercedes he was driving was trapped at 183km/h in a 120km/h zone. The Witness newspaper in Pietermaritzburg reported that a breath test returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.84g/100ml, "several times" the legal limit of 0.05g/100ml.*
The case was postponed to October 15 to await the result of blood tests taken after the arrest.
Neither Ramkisson nor Road Traffic Inspectorate spokeswoman Zinhle Mngomezulu could confirm whether the car he was driving was his or belonged to the state.
Mkhize was not in the car at the time; Gwala was apparently en route from Pietermaritzburg to Mtunzini, 230km away.
Mkhize's spokesman refused comment because "it may be interpreted in some quarters as interfering with the work of law enforcement agencies".
*Wheels24 seriously doubts the given breath alcohol level. International data shows death usually occurs at 0.40mg/100ml of blood. And Gwala's breathalyser reading of 0.84g/100ml was not just "several" times the legal limit, but nearly SEVENTEEN times the limit.
