Former Prasa executive hits back at Montana
PASSENGER Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) executive Tiro Holele has called out his former chief executive Lucky Montana for his alleged dictatorial leadership, paranoia and bullying tactics.
Visibly frustrated by the allegations made about him by Montana at the State Capture Commission, Holele dismissed Montana’s allegations as lies and fabrications to clear himself of wrongdoing.
“People at the top of the command chain do this. They did it in apartheid and they are doing it right into democracy.
“They say, ‘no, I’m not involved in procurement at my level.’ Meanwhile, behind the scene, they commandeer the very process. They threaten employees, they bully them, they demote them, they fire them, they send a message to the system that says, ‘if you don't do what I communicate privately that I need to be done, the fate that has befallen these deviant ones is going to befall you.’
“And then they don't leave their fingerprints at the crime scene, and they will come here and proudly say, ‘at my level, I'm not involved in procurement,’” Holele said.
The commission finalised hearing oral evidence from Prasa executives Holele and head of legal Martha Ngoye yesterday.
Both Ngoye and Holele claimed Montana lied to the commission about his alleged disciplinary actions against them, his lack of signing powers on deals of more than R100 million and their alleged involvement in the corrupt contracts.
They both answered to specific allegations made by Montana in relation to the corrupt R3.5 billion Swifambo contract for locomotives.
In the 2013 deal, Swifambo Rails was awarded the R3.5bn tender for the procurement of locomotives. Prasa paid R2.6bn of the contract, but only 13 of 88 locomotives were delivered and they were too tall for local infrastructure.
This deal remains one of the most explosive deals to come out of Montana’s tenure as group chief executive.
Montana denied approving the Swifambo deal and told the commission that the board approved it upon recommendation from the Bid Adjudication Committee on which he alleged Holele and Ngoye sat. He claimed Holele and Ngoye were “at the heart” of the corrupt deal.
Holele and Ngoye yesterday told the commission that they were never part of any such meeting that approved the Swifambo deal and that the “so-called minutes” of the meeting, placing them there, were fabricated.
Holele said that the first time he had heard that Prasa had embarked on a deal to procure the locomotives was during its announcement in Cape Town.