Ngoye should answer for Swifambo contract, Montana tells Zondo Inquiry Prasa paid R2.6 billion of an R3.5 billion contract with Swifambo Rail but only 13 of 88 locomotives were delivered and they were too tall for local infrastructure. A screengrab of former Prasa CEO Lucky Montana appearing at the state capture inquiry on 16 April 2021. Picture: SABC/YouTube
2 hours ago
JOHANNESBURG - Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) Group CEO, Lucky Montana, said that if anyone should answer for the Swifambo tall trains contract, it was the former head of legal, Martha Ngoye, not him.
He said this is because she was a member of the bid evaluation committee that recommended the company for approval by the board and not him alone.
Corrupt rail contracts: Lucky Montana once again shifts dailymaverick.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymaverick.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
On Tuesday, 2 March, Parliament’s public accounts watchdog struggled to get answers from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). In a pattern of less than desirable appearances before the public accounts committee, the committee was left with more questions than answers about the state of the country’s rail agency.
Prasa briefed the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on the agency’s 2019/20 annual report, deviations and investigations conducted by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). This was a follow-up to a meeting held in November with the new Prasa board, which had been appointed a few weeks before the meeting.
Martha Ngoye, Nathi Khena and Tiro Holele, three executives of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) who recently had their contracts ‘terminated’ by Prasa’s, have filed an urgent application with the Johannesburg Labour Court, seeking immediate reinstatement to their former posts.
In her founding affidavit, which is supported by Khena and Holele, Martha Ngoye argues that at the time that her contract and Khena’s were terminated, on 29 January, and by 3 February, when Holele’s was terminated, Prasa’s board was not properly constituted, and therefore not empowered in law to fire these executives. Ngoye also argues that the argument used by the board justify their terminations that their contracts had a five-year expiration date was not supported by fact, and not valid in law.