SACP Secretary General Blade Nzimande sits during the launch of the Party's Red October rally at City Hall in Johannesburg on 8 October 2017. Picture: Yeshiel Panchia
Transport Minister Blade Nzimande on Thursday was keen to correct misconceptions created by a viral video that it’s possible to fail a breathalyser test just by eating a hot cross bun.
He also at one point got his syntax all mixed up, and spoke about “blood in your alcohol” instead of “alcohol in your blood”, which helped to amuse some viewers.
Nzimande was talking about a new breathalyser that can supposedly give a very accurate reading without needing advanced lab conditions.
Watch the video:
On the issue of the hot cross bun video, he was critical of social media, saying that the machine used in the video was not the more reliable, new one.
“That story of the hot cross bun … people mustn’t take it seriously. People mustn’t hope that when they drink and get on the road, that they can then say: ‘Oh, sorry, Officer, all I had was a hot cross bun. Our machines are very reliable. We have got much confidence in them.”
He said an experienced officer would in any case be able to smell the alcohol on a driver and then police had a right to take drivers off the road to go and test them at a testing centre or have blood tests done.
(Edited by Charles Cilliers)
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