Former Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) board chairperson Popo Molefe to deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo: It was transport minister Dipuo Peters.
Peters to Zondo: That is not true, it was you ntate Molefe.
Lucky Montana: Actually, Molefe and Peters were together until they fell out.
Such is the state of the Prasa-related evidence before the state capture inquiry, but it is Zondo who will have the final say about who among the trio is possibly telling the truth.
On Monday and Tuesday, Peters was grilled on her role in cutting Prasa to its knees.
Among other issues that were central to her testimony, was the failure of Prasa to appoint a permanent CEO during the time she was minister after the departure of Montana in 2015.
Molefe, in his previous testimony at the Zondo commission, placed the blame squarely at Peters’ door for “frustrating” the process of appointing a permanent replacement for Montana.
But Peters has fired back at Molefe, whom she accused of trying to absolve himself, despite having played an active role in the debacle.
On Twitter, the man who created the vacancy when he controversially stepped down — Montana — is placing both Molefe and Peters at the crime scene.
Montana left Prasa in July 2015, at which time Peters was the minister and Molefe the chairperson of the Prasa board.
By March 2017 when Peters was fired as minister, shortly after she removed Molefe’s board, a permanent replacement for Montana had not been found.
I feel aggrieved that the chairperson of Prasa (Molefe) came to the commission to project me as the one who delayed the process [for the appointment of a permanent CEO] to create an environment for the company to be captured.
— Former transport minister Dipuo Peters
Molefe previously told the commission that his board had gone through a “rigorous” process to recruit Montana’s replacement and had shortlisted three names which were submitted to Peters in August 2016.
But according to Molefe’s testimony, Peters did not do anything about the shortlist, as she was not pleased with the names on it.
Peters has rubbished Molefe’s claims, saying Molefe knew what caused the delay for the appointment of the new CEO and that he was in on it.
According to Peters, she and Molefe agreed that because Prasa was facing many problems at the time, including the damning “Derailed” report from the office of the public protector, the conditions were not conducive to appoint a permanent CEO. She was also in the process of tabling the recommendation of the Prasa board to the cabinet.
After Montana’s departure from the office, he was replaced by Nathi Khena on an interim basis before he was replaced with another acting CEO, Collins Letsoalo, whose permanent job was CFO at Peters’ department.
Peters told the Zondo commission that it was Molefe who asked that Khena be removed as interim boss because he was “useless” and taking instructions from Montana who no longer had a standing in the company’s organigram.
“Both myself and ntate Molefe agreed that Prasa is not ready because there are all these problems,” said Peters.
“I feel aggrieved that the chairperson of Prasa (Molefe) came to the commission to project me as the one who delayed the process [for the appointment of a permanent CEO] to create an environment for the company to be captured.”
Montana said Peters and Molefe were best buddies who worked against him during his time at Prasa, under the impression that he was former president Jacob Zuma’s man, only for them to fall out after he left.
“Dipuo Peters worked against me as minister of transport. Pravin (Gordhan) and Popo made her believe I was doing ‘corrupt deals’ for Jacob Zuma. Dipuo Peters realised a year later this was false and changed her position,” tweeted Montana.
“Her failure to approve the recommendation for the appointment of a new group CEO was part of her fight against the Pravin-Goldblatt — Popo — Werksmans axis.”
Peters has rested evidence, for now, to attend to her parliamentary duties.
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