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Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has once again denied allegations of donations to the ANC made during his tenure as party treasurer general, according to former executive director of Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), Lucky Montana.
In an interview with the Daily Maverick investigation team, Scorpio, Montana alleged that there were financial deals between Mkhize and Angolan businesswoman Maria Gomes, who, in 2013 and 2014, received 40 million rand from Prasa’s infamous 3.5 billion rand Swifambo rail lease.
Scorpio reported that Montana alleged that he and Mkhize met regularly with Gomes at his home in Johannesburg in the period after Prasa was awarded the contract.
Mkhize, who was the ANC’s general treasurer at the time, allegedly provided Gomes with details of the bank accounts in which she was asked to deposit money for the ANC’s benefit, Montana told Scorpio.
Prasa is among the SOEs that have been devastated by years of corruption and mismanagement due to state capture, which has cost SA some R500 billion.
Last year, in a letter to the state capture commission, Montana threatened to reveal the role ANC leaders played in the “disappearance” of the rail system in SA, however, later withdrew from testifying in front of the vice president. research. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Montana said he did this because he had been pressured to “drop some aspects” of his testimony. This was when the SA Revenue Service (Sars) moved to seize their assets.
The former CEO of Prasa, who was fired from the rail agency in 2015, had also filed an impeachment complaint against Zondo that was dismissed in July for “lack of substance.”
This is not the first time Montana has made Prasa-related accusations against Mkhize. Mkhize said Tuesday that he had previously issued statements on the matter refuting the allegations.
Mkhize said he also gave a detailed statement to the parliament’s portfolio committee on public companies in February 2018, along with a statement giving a detailed description and response to Montana’s “false and unfounded allegations.”
“Dr. Mkhize still stands by those previous statements and therefore, in our opinion, he has no other purpose to mock Montana in the media than to subject these allegations to a formal and independent process, “he said his spokesman Lwazi Manzi.
She said Mkhize acknowledged that the state capture commission has the powers to fully investigate these matters and that he will provide any information and / or clarity that may be required of him as a former ANC treasurer general.
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