‘It’s time to tell each other the truth’ — Mzansi weighs in on Lucky Montana’s state capture testimony

The testimony of former Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana before the state capture inquiry has drawn public attention.

Montana returned to the inquiry on Monday, where he alleged the ruling party used state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to fund its political activities. He said President Cyril Ramaphosa failed to bring this across during his testimony last week.

Montana alleged the ANC once approached Prasa for transport provision for its supporters via former transport minister Dipuo Peters. 

He said Ramaphosa was not being truthful when he told the inquiry the ruling party did not promote the funding of party activities by SOEs. 

“Chair, it’s not true. When the ANC organised its January 8 event, the leadership of the ANC said to minister Dipuo Peters, ‘We don’t have a transport plan, we want Lucky and Prasa to come and help us organise it.’ Who pays for this thing? And she’s not told by one person, she’s told by the leadership of the ANC when they make preparations,” he alleged.

Montana called on the ruling party to self-correct rather than project some of its members as corrupt and others as anti-corruption. 

“This thing of saying state capture belongs to [former president Jacob] Zuma is false. The ANC is a way of life and I thought we lost an opportunity when the president was here. The ANC should have said there are certain things we used to do as a party,” he said.

During his testimony last week, Ramaphosa told the inquiry the ANC could have acted sooner in preventing state capture. He said its existence is still heavily contested among party members. 

“The contestation regarding the existence of state capture continued for quite a while and I guess it will continue right until the release of the commission’s report because there are those who deny there was state capture,” said the president. 

Social media was filled with reaction to Montana’s testimony on Monday. Here are some of the views: