Johannesburg - Former Prasa chief executive Lucky Montana has petitioned the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to investigate what he calls gross misconduct and incompetent behaviour displayed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo as chairperson of the State Capture Inquiry.
Montana filed a 45-page affidavit seeking the JSC to investigate Zondo for his handling of corruption allegations involving the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
Montana has been outspoken over the past couple of weeks following the State Capture Inquiry’s week-long hearings into corruption at Prasa.
Various witnesses, including former Prasa board chairperson Popo Molefe, presented evidence which painted Montana as possibly being behind the awarding of questionable contracts worth billions of rands while he was at the helm of the state-owned enterprise (SOE).
Montana left the SOE in July 2015.
He has taken issue with the evidence presented by witnesses and comments made by Zondo during the hearings. Zondo spoke broadly about concerns he had with how the ANC, Parliament and the Hawks had dragged their feet in responding to corruption concerns raised by Molefe.
Montana said the commission has been unfair to him and the manner in which it collects evidence is questionable and bias.
“This complaint provides sufficient facts to illustrate several breaches to the JSC Act and the code of judicial conduct of Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. DCJ Zondo demonstrated gross misconduct/ or incompetence wherein he acted in a manner that is unbecoming of a judicial officer and which is not compatible with a fit a proper person with honesty, integrity and committed to ethical conduct,” Montana wrote.
He went further to state that Zondo’s “unfair” actions have consequences for the country’s judicial democracy.
“His conduct and decisions have a bearing on the future of the country and constitutional democracy. It is for these reasons that the conduct of the DCJ Zondo must be carefully scrutinized. I personally view this in a serious light. This has driven me to write formally to the Judicial Service Commission to look into his conduct,” Montana wrote.
The complaint further outlines what Montana calls the commission’s deliberate attempts at curtailing evidence and manipulating the evidence to support a state capture agenda. He has also accused the commission’s evidence leader, Advocate Vasi Soni, of being conflicted.
He labelled the evidence provided to the commission by Molefe and other Prasa staffers as “hearsay”.
Montana maintains he will appear before the State Capture Inquiry and give his side of the evidence and explain how the contracts he awarded had been above board.