- Former Prasa CEO Lucky Montana says the state capture commission is biased and targeting certain individuals.
- Montana issued a strongly worded statement after his hearing at the commission, meant to start on Monday, was cancelled.
- According to Montana, he submitted 31 bundles of documents, but the commission allegedly said his annexures were incorrectly numbered.
Former rail agency boss Lucky Montana has hit out at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, claiming it is biased, pursuing a predetermined agenda, and targeting particular individuals.
Montana has lashed out at the commission in a statement after his hearing at the commission, probing allegations of corruption and state capture, was canned.
His hearing was expected to start on Monday, but he said the commission stated its primary reason for its decision was that his annexures, "... are either not marked or numbered or incomplete".
The former Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) CEO has since written to the commission's secretary, Professor Itumeleng Mosala, challenging the decision and reasons for the cancellation.
"The decision is aimed at blocking these annexures from being admitted as evidence by the commission because these are damning on [sic] the commission itself, its preferred witnesses, and ultimately, the entire narrative that we stole or mismanaged public funds as part of the so-called state capture," Montana said.
According to Montana, he submitted 31 bundles of documents, "... which are clearly numbered, each described in detail in the index", and linked to the annexure number in his affidavit.
Documents
"The commission claims this is not in line with its own 'practice', which it has not shared with me," he said.
On 8 December, Montana said documents were collected from his home.
"A week later, I received a call informing me that my annexures will be returned, and these were delivered when I was not home. When I returned and checked the documents, I found these had been tampered with, copies made and brought back with some of the annexures missing.
"The commission analysed the annexures for a full week, noted the damning contents and had to find a reason not to admit my evidence. The marking and numbering of documents was the only reason the commission could find. It is frivolous and lousy," he claimed.
Montana said the commission did not give him the opportunity to correct what was deemed incorrect.
He said: "[It] chose instead, arbitrarily, to cancel the hearing of my evidence. This is a case of the commission elevating a technical point over the more important issue of unearthing evidence that could help the commission to find the truth.
"In my letter of response, I stated that if the commission prefers annexures to be marked or numbered in a particular way in accordance with its established 'practice', then I should be provided with the format and invited to sit with the commission’s team so that we work together and ensure that each annexure is properly marked and allocated, as part of the preparations for the hearing of my testimony."
Recently, Montana detailed claims to the Daily Maverick about alleged financial dealings involving the ANC, health minister Zweli Mkhize and Maria Gomes, an Angolan businesswoman who secured a R40m slice of Prasa's infamous R3.5bn "tall trains" contract in 2013 and 2014.
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Montana claimed that he and Mkhize regularly met with Gomes at her house in Johannesburg in the period after Prasa had awarded the controversial locomotive contract to Swifambo Rail Leasing.
Mkhize has denied Montana's claims.
Commission is 'biased'
"The commission's decision is not surprising. I have consistently said the commission is biased, is pursuing a predetermined agenda and targeting particular individuals. I am one of the people who is being targeted and every attempt is made to frustrate me to tell my story," Montana added.
Montana said he will be seeking legal advice on the lawfulness of the commission’s decision.
Spokesperson for the commission, Mbuyiselo Stemela said: "The commission confirms that the secretary of the commission has written to Mr Montana, and the answers to the questions are written in the letter sent to him. The commission does not discuss communication between the commission and its witnesses."