Watch – Prasa’s R5.6bn Siyangena scandal demands NPA action

Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa boss Lucky Montana, along with his alleged corruptors and their enablers, could be facing charges for their alleged crimes. Daily Maverick’s investigative journalist for Scorpio Pieter-Louis Myburgh explains.

Reporting by: Pieter-Louis Myburgh Filmed by: Joel Seboa Edited by: Malibongwe Tyilo Produced by: Emilie Gambade Sub-edited by: Kevin Flynn

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The Special Investigating Unit recently announced that it would provisionally freeze two properties owned by Lucky Montana, a former CEO of the state-owned Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, or Prasa.

Much of the media coverage only broadly dealt with the SIU’s announcement, but there is a compelling backstory to Montana’s properties, one that unlocks several important themes. The saga highlights the value of enterprising investigative journalism. It exposes the tactic of funneling alleged kickbacks through convoluted property transactions. Finally, it once more underpins the tremendous cost of corruption at our foremost State Owned Entities.

I’ve been tracking the story of Montana’s suspicious property schemes for more than a decade, and today I’ll take you through Prasa’s R5.6-billion Siyangena corruption scandal.

The saga takes us back to 2010, the year in which South Africa hosted the Fifa World Cup.

With Montana at the helm of Prasa, the SOE decided it urgently needed to upgrade several commuter train stations ahead of the tournament. But this motivation is now widely viewed as a ruse. The tournament was only months away. Prasa and its contractor would’ve had little chance, if any, to complete such a large undertaking in time.

However, Prasa pressed ahead and awarded a R90-million contract to Siyengena Technologies, a company that formed part of businessman Mario Ferreira’s TMM Holdings.

Siyangena was appointed to install CCTV cameras, access gates and related equipment at a handful of Prasa stations.

The dealings between Prasa and Siyangena were shady from the outset. There was no lawful procurement process, no budget for the program, while internal Prasa documents were manipulated to conceal the unlawful nature of Siyangena’s appointment. We know this because of high court and Supreme Court of Appeal judgments that were later handed down.

All available evidence points to Lucky Montana as the main motivator for appointing Siyangena. Records from the court proceedings revealed that Montana had been having private meetings with Siyangena’s bosses, raising questions over the nature of his relationship with the Prasa contractor.

But Siyangena’s R90-million contract was only the start of the company’s lucrative relationship with Montana’s state-owned entity.

In 2011, Prasa commenced with the ISAMS program, short for an integrated station access management system. Siyangena ended up raking in billions of rands through this project.