Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg – Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) group chief executive Lucky Montana called out his party, the ANC, for pretending to assist the Zondo Commission but instead feeding it lies.
Montana, who was giving evidence at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on Monday, spoke of how the party “created conditions for corruption”.
He also said he watched President Cyril Ramaphosa’s testimony last week with disappointment as he expected him “to reflect honestly”.
He said the ANC leadership had pretended to support the commission but did not assist to solve the fundamental problem.
He alleged the ANC used public funds via its connections to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to bankroll the party and its activities.
He called it “a way of life” for the ANC, as it had a culture of requesting funding from SOEs through connections.
“I was disappointed when I listened to what the ANC told you in this commission. Our president was here. And I thought that the leadership of the country would reflect honestly on what had happened over the past.
“But for the ANC to pretend that its conferences and events are not funded from public funds, it’s not true,” Montana told Justice Zondo on Monday.
Montana said that he would attend meetings at the ANC’s headquarters in Luthuli House once a month and was often asked to assist with the party’s finances.
He alleged the ANC would give him a list of suppliers that the party owed and tell him: “We think you must assist us in this way”.
Montana was responding to allegations that the ANC received R80 million from Swifambo Rails – a company that was awarded a R3.5 billion tender for the procurement of locomotives.
In the Swifambo deal, Prasa paid R2.6bn of a R3.5bn contract with Swifambo Rail, but only 13 of 88 locomotives were delivered and they were too tall for local infrastructure.
Earlier, Montana lambasted the former head of legal, Martha Ngoye, when he told the Commission that she was “unruly and unco-operative” and that Ngoye repeatedly dared him to fire her.
Montana said that for him, it seemed like another way of Ngoye saying she was not prepared to work with him.
Montana defended himself by telling the commission that he was not the kind of person who would just fire people without discussing issues and attempting to find amicable ways forward.
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