Cope takes former rail men to cops

COPE yesterday pressed charges of fraud against former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) boss Lucky Montana and head engineer Daniel Mtimkulu at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria.

Cope member of the city council, Tiyiselani Babane, said he wanted police to probe Montana for “ensuring Mtimkulu benefited unlawfully from the proceeds of an unlawful and fraudulent activity”.

He also wanted Mtimkulu to be investigated for misrepresenting his qualifications.

Prasa suspended Mtimkulu after it was established he lied about his qualifications.

Mtimkulu came under fire for not having the BTech in engineering, a Master’s or doctoral degree he claimed to have. He had also been criti- cised for not having registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa, as required by law.

Babane said Cope was keeping true to not condoning cadre deployment in the public service. “People must be given jobs on merit. One of the key things Cope promised was to professionalise the public service,” he said.

He accused Montana, who was axed last week, of having ensured Mtimkulu remained on as head engineer despite knowing he didn’t meet the academic criteria or qualifications for that position.

Babane said Montana assisted Mtimkulu to financially benefit from Prasa despite this. Mtimkulu had the intention to defraud Prasa and misrepresented his academic qualifications to obtain a salary not due to him, he said. “The misrepresentation of Mtimkulu caused financial prejudice to taxpayers.”