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| Prasa Class Afro4000 no. 4003 at Culemborg, Cape Town |
Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma denied any knowledge of allegations of the ANC’s reported involvement in the Swifambo tender for the procurement of locomotives by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
Zuma was responding to questions in the
National Assembly when DA leader Mmusi Maimane asked him in a follow-up
question whether the ANC received a “bribe of R80m” to award the
procurement of the controversial Afro4000 locomotive to Swifambo Rail Leasing.
News24 earlier reported that the Swifambo
paid an amount of R14.3m into the account of a lawyer who had
introduced himself as a fundraiser for the ANC.
This transaction by Auswell Mashaba, MD of the Swifambo Rail Leasing, would be the first of several payments totalling R80m that were made by Mashaba to George Sabelo, the ANC-linked lawyer, and Maria Gomes, an Angolan citizen who calls herself a friend of Zuma.
“As ANC president, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zuma said in response to Maimane’s question.
“The allegations need to be investigated.
I know Prasa has done its own internal investigations on the
allegations, but I have no idea how far they are.”
Maimane put it to Zuma that Popo Molefe, former chairperson of the now dissolved Prasa board, stated under oath that the ANC, as well as certain Prasa officials were the recipients of the said bribe.
The DA leader also wanted to know from
Zuma if he instructed ANC MPs who are members of the portfolio committee
on transport to make a U-turn on a promised inquiry into the disarray
at Prasa.
Zuma said there are already a number of
investigations involving Prasa and that he doubted it would be wise to
conduct “an inquiry on top of investigations”.
“Would that be the correct thing to do
before the outcome of the investigations?” Zuma asked. “We can only
decide on the need for the inquiry once the investigations are
completed. One of the things is the investigation could go to court. So
you may not have the need for any inquiry.”
Prasa has been mired in controversy,
following allegations of tender irregularities, wasteful expenditure and
management problems at company and board level.
Collins Letsoalo, Prasa acting CEO was recently fired by the board, following allegations that he hiked his salary by more than 350%. Transport Minister Dipuo Peters dissolved the board shortly thereafter.
An interim board has since been established, chaired by former SA National Roads Agency boss Nazir Ali was an experienced manager and former General-Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers‚ Frans Baleni‚ and Xolile George from the SA Local Government Association (Salga).
Meanwhile the former board members have
lodged an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria on Monday to
reverse their removal by Peters.
The former board argued that the
disbandment could create the perception that the transport minister is
seeking to prevent investigations into corruption‚ which is ongoing, and
that she is “punishing the board” for its decision to axe Letsoalo. –
Fin24
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