Deputy transport minister Dikeledi Magadzi dropped the mic in style after her testimony at the Zondo commission on Monday when she defended the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma, the son of former president Jacob Zuma.
Magadzi — testifying as the former chair of the parliamentary portfolio committee on transport — also poured cold water on the allegations that erstwhile Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) boss Lucky Montana bought “tall trains”.
According to Magadzi, there was never a R51bn tender issued by Prasa, which apparently was targeted for rigging by the Guptas and Duduzane. In fact, Magadzi said, the R51bn was the “gazetted” amount by the National Treasury for a “modernisation programme”, and that only a fraction of that was due to Prasa.
Magadzi also took exception to the commission not asking her about the locomotives Prasa bought that were too tall, which she said the portfolio committee on transport refused to entertain because there was nothing of sort.
In her closing remarks before being excused, she first tackled the R51bn tender issue.
“I need to indicate that the budget of R51bn overall was the amount that was gazetted by the National Treasury based on the programme of modernisation. Prasa was supposed to get money of that R51bn to deal with signalling, to deal with station improvement on trains, security and coaches,” said Magadzi. “There was never a tender that was R51bn. As for the people who were involved, especially the issue that the Guptas and Mr Zuma [Duduzane] were to be given that tender, it definitely is not true, because if you look into service providers who were there, it was not the group that belonged to the Guptas,” she said.
Mgadzi then dealt with the infamous “tall trains”.
She said: “The other thing that we did not talk about is the allegations of the tall trains. When we called the Rail Safety Regulator to the portfolio committee, they impressed upon us that they had done the trial of the trains and that the trains were fit to be utilised in the Republic of South Africa.
“The fact that specialists in this regard were saying the trains can be utilised, therefore, we felt happy that the trains can continue.”
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