Lucky Montana's sudden departure this week from the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) after almost 10 years as group CEO comes after a series of damaging revelations cast serious doubt on his competence and probity, and also as the public protector prepares to release her report on allegations of corruption against him. Montana announced in April he would be leaving at the end of the year, three months before his contract would have expired, after serving a notice period.The board told him this week to go immediately.Montana blamed his early exit on exhaustion and tensions with the board, which he claimed was interfering in executive decisions. He made no secret of his strained relationship with the chairman, Popo Molefe.Given the shambles at Prasa and never-ending catalogue of hair-raising revelations of executive incompetence, unethical behaviour, conflicts of interest and questionable tender awards, Montana, who refused an interview, can count himself lucky to have survived for as long as he has.Exhaustion should be the least of his problems.After Montana proudly announced that Prasa had received 13 new diesel locomotives for its long-distance service, Shosholoza Meyl, investigations by Rapport newspaper revealed that the locos, which cost R600-million, were too high for the overhead electrical cables on the country's rail lines.block_quotes_start Our railway system's spec defines a limited maximum height which these locomotives exceed block_quotes_endThey're part of an initial R3.5-billion deal which will see Prasa taking delivery of another seven diesel, and 50 hybrid, locomotives.Montana dismissed the reports as part of a racist agenda.Technical experts say the facts are the facts. "As far as the height issue goes, specs are specs. And our railway system's spec defines a limited maximum height which these locomotives exceed."Montana said the infrastructure would be upgraded to accommodate the locomotives. It has been pointed out that the cost of doing this - R7-billion for the Johannesburg and Pretoria network alone - has not been budgeted for.This contract is separate from a R51-billion contract Prasa awarded to the Gibela empowerment consortium to deliver 600 trains for Prasa's commuter rail fleet renewal programme.It has also emerged that Prasa's chief engineer, who designed the locomotives, is not properly qualified and is not registered with the profession's statutory body, as required by law. The Engineering Council of South Africa rejected his application to register in 2006 because he could not prove that he was appropriately qualified.According to press reports, Wits University, where "Dr" Daniel Mtimkulu claims to have studied engineering, has no record of his having been a student. Doubts have also been cast on the master's degree and doctorate he claims to have studied for in Germany.Montana said recently, prior to his departure from Prasa, that there would be an inquiry into Mtimkulu's non-registration with the council and his qualifications. He had been informed of this and would not be suspended.But Montana, who was unimpressed with the furore over Mtimkulu, also said: "If an engineer is not registered it doesn't mean that he is not a qualified engineer."This is by no means the only rule Prasa has broken under Montana's leadership. It emerged this week that Prasa deviated from its payment schedule in a contract to buy the Spanish locomotives, paying the winning consortium Swifambo Rail Leasing about R40-million more than stipulated.Inadequate foreign currency hedging by Prasa has seen the price increase from R3.5-billion to more than R4.8-billion. At the same time, the number of locos which it will get for that additional amount has been reduced from 88 to 70.Last year, the auditor-general found Prasa had made payments to Swifambo that contradicted its procurement policy. Montana said then that the process had "inherent tensions" but was "in no way a dodgy contract". He said "certain shortcomings of a contractual nature" with Swifambo were being "looked into". The contract was awarded to Swifambo after "an open and competitive tender process".story_article_left1But it was mired in controversy, and opposition parties asked the auditor-general to investigate.Montana said at the time that Prasa had purchased the best locomotives for South Africa. "Certain people" were trying to force it to buy locomotives that were not suitable, he said.Recent reports have fingered him for selling his Johannesburg home for R3.4-million more than its valuation, and almost R3-million more than other houses in the neighbourhood, to the lawyer of a security company which was awarded a R3-billion tender by Prasa months before the transaction.Rival bidders complained that the tender process was tweaked to favour this company, whose CEO left the South African subsidiary of German electronics giant Siemens amid allegations he had paid bribes to secure state tenders for Siemens elsewhere in Africa.Montana said previously the value of the house reflected upgrades since he bought it - although according to Rapport, the City of Johannesburg valued the house 10 months before the sale. Pretoria attorney Riaan van der Walt paid R6.8-million in cash for it, R3.4-million more than its valuation.Further reports raised questions about Montana's relationships with people who received big contracts from Prasa.He was said to be using an up-market residential property in Cape Town belonging to a person whose company, Commuter Transport Engineering, had for years been getting contracts from Prasa for, among other things, the repair and renovation of Metrorail train coaches.Montana denied using the property, but could not or would not explain why a Mercedes-Benz car in the garage was leased to him; nor why he had been paying to provide a garden service at the house.Nor, indeed, why a security guard posted at the house, but abruptly removed after Montana was asked about his connection with the property, had confirmed that Montana used the property.A report by public protector Thuli Madonsela into allegations of corruption against Montana will be released on Thursday, according to her spokesman, Oupa Segalwe.sub_head_start Rolling along, sinister and rotten to the core sub_head_endThere is anecdotal evidence over and above the many recent press reports to suggest that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa is tainted. That tenders are awarded to the well-connected, prices are inflated, suspiciously excessive amounts are spent on marketing campaigns ...Those who balk at the corruption are shunted out of the way. Senior managers have been suspended on full pay for years on trumped-up charges of insubordination or "conspiracy against Prasa" while waiting for disciplinary hearings that Prasa is in no hurry to hold."A lot of people would be in jail now if Prasa was in another country," says one of them, alluding to the leadership.There is a culture of fear in the organisation. People believe even their phones at home are being tapped. They tell of receiving threats from high places in Prasa. They're terrified of speaking.Ironically, one of the most afraid, or so he says, is Lucky Montana, Prasa CEO until just a few days ago. He is followed by bodyguards wherever he goes.story_article_right2For him, this is nothing new. He resigned as deputy director-general of the Department of Transport in 2006 after saying he had been attacked at home by gun-wielding assailants.Convinced that his efforts to spearhead the unpopular R7.7-billion minibus taxi recapitalisation programme were putting his life in danger, he quit - "pissed off" with the department's failure to provide him with security.The programme was going nowhere under him anyway. "We have made enormous strides," insisted Montana, who talks a good game.He was put in charge of Metrorail after the suburban passenger train service was offloaded by Transnet.Security on trains was so bad that he was taken to court, where he told the judge that Metrorail was not responsible for the safety of its passengers.In 2010, he suspended South Africa's long-distance passenger train service because of a disagreement with Transnet.What about his passengers?"We have given them an opportunity to use the buses or get a refund," he said.One couple had spent R50000 on tickets for the Shosholoza Meyl after deciding to take a train ride around the country for their annual holiday rather than go to Mauritius or Vietnam. Six hours before departure, they were informed their train had been cancelled.The cancelled trains had all been fully booked. Hundreds of other people, many of them overseas tourists, were left in the lurch by him, too.He demonstrated his concern by going on leave the next day.Montana has always complained about Prasa being "cash-strapped".After a wage dispute brought Metrorail to a standstill in 2010, he said R7-million was needed for higher salaries, but "I don't know where I'll find it".This was shortly after spending R10-million on World Cup tickets, which he justified as "a business decision".Shortcomings in Prasa's service are still met with the "cash-strapped" refrain.But a story by the owner of a small hotel in Magaliesburg, Gauteng, provides a telling commentary on this and the culture of corruption.Prasa called, saying it wanted to send 17 staff there for a two-day conference. It asked the hotel to pay two Prasa service providers who were coming to do capacity building. Then Prasa would pay the hotel.The invoices would be for R1-million. The own er refused. Prasa offered him 10% of that to cover administrative and finance charges. When the owner started asking questions, Prasa found another hotel that was prepared to play along.This kind of thing happens a lot, one is told...