Montana accuses Zondo Commission of being biased

Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana has accused the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture of being biased and its investigative team of failing to do its job.

Testifying before the commission on Friday morning, Montana has accused other witnesses who have appeared before the commission of driving an agenda against him and influencing the commission. He says the country needed leadership with courage.

Deputy Chief Justice of the Commission Raymond Zondo says he will investigate some of the concerns raised by Montana and added that he was keen to hear all sides of the story.

Zondo said it would be wrong for the commission to admit that it never made mistakes.

Lucky Montana criticises the commission: 

Speaking in different dialects Montana accused evidence leader Vas Soni of being highly conflicted, saying he is doing work for Werksman Attorneys whom Popo Molefe used to manufacture evidence against him.

Montana says fruitless and wasteful expenditure is the only evidence being used by the commission to measure corruption, which he says is irregular.

Montana also accuses law enforcement agencies and investigators of breaking into his house illegally many times to try and get evidence.

The ex-Prasa boss says in July 2019, he wrote a letter to the commission explaining his intention to give evidence, but the commission wanted him to focus on certain issues and disregarded some of his evidence.

Montana urges the commission to listen to different sides of the story before accepting one side to be fact.

The former Prasa boss was implicated in alleged wrongdoing by several witnesses, including former Prasa Board Chairperson, Popo Molefe, and the parastatal’s former legal representative, Martha Ngoyi.

On Prasa matters, Montana told Justice Zondo that he believed the state of the rail agency was in shambles.