Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana says he fought with a lot of people, including Ministers, during his time at the rail agency. But he insists he’s never made unlawful decisions.
Montana has been accused of abusing his power by awarding contracts to his associates. He says that neither former President Jacob Zuma nor the Guptas influenced tender processes at Prasa.
The former Prasa CEO has again slammed allegations that he’s responsible for the dire state of Prasa. Montana says he stood his ground and ensured that the Guptas did not get any contracts at Prasa. He says he’s never been at the Gupta house and neither have they visited him.
“Where I sued to stay I was in the same street with Duduzane Zuma and the Guptas have never been at my place,” says Montana.
The rail agency has been plagued by irregular awarding of contracts and financial irregularities.
These include about 300 learners trained by the Services Seta for R18 million. The training amount per learner had jumped from R6 000 in 2010 to R24 000 two years later.
Montana has confirmed that he approved the training contract with Prodigee and that not all contracts needed to go through a tender process.
“I do not share the view that every offer of a service requires a tender,” he says.
Montana has also disputed the Auditor’s General’s report that irregular expenditure ballooned from R100 million in 2013 to R14 billion in 2015 under his watch. He labelled this as a political game by his detractors.
Montana’s testimony in the video below:
