Tshepo Lucky Montana was the chief executive officer of the

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is a South African state-owned enterprise responsible for most passenger rail services in the country. History In 1910, as a consequence of the formation of the Union of South Africa, all railway ...

(Prasa) between 2010 and 2015. Montana entered the public transport sector in the 1990s and was appointed to the board of Prasa's predecessor, the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC), in 2005; he later became the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO) at SARCC. According to the ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cultu ...

'', he also served for a period as political adviser to

Jeff Radebe Jeffrey Thamsanqa "Jeff" Radebe (born 18 February 1953) is a South African politician who was last appointed as Minister of Energy by Cyril Ramaphosa on 26 February 2018. He served in the government of South Africa as Minister in the Presidency ...

while Radebe was

Minister of Public Enterprises The Minister of Public Enterprises is a minister in the cabinet of the national government of South Africa. He is appointed by the President of South Africa and is the political head of the Department of Public Enterprises, which was establishe ...

. He was appointed group CEO of Prasa in October 2010. Later that year, the ''Mail & Guardian'' reported that he was also a frontrunner for appointment as CEO of Trasnet, although he ultimately remained at Prasa until 2015. In April 2015, Prasa announced that Montana had expressed his intention to step down as CEO when his contracted expired at the end of March 2016. However, he did not reach his contract's expiry date and was dismissed in July 2015. Montana's tenure at Prasa was controversial. In June 2022, the

Zondo Commission The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State, better known as the Zondo Commission or State Capture Commission, is a public inquiry established in Janu ...

, established to investigate allegations of state capture in the South African government, recommended that the

Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily a ...

should expedite its investigations into allegations that Montana was responsible for criminal misconduct while at Prasa; it also recommended that the

National Prosecuting Authority The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) is the agency of the South African government responsible for state prosecutions. Under Section 179 of the Constitution and the National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998, which established the NPA in 199 ...

should give "serious consideration" to the prospect of prosecuting Montana and that a special commission of inquiry should be established to investigate Prasa's "slide into almost total ruin" during and after Montana's tenure. The chairperson of the commission,

Raymond Zondo Raymond Mnyamezeli Mlungisi "Ray" Zondo (born 4 May 1960) is a South African judge who is currently serving as Chief Justice of South Africa since 2022. President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Zondo as South Africa's new chief justice with effect f ...

, wrote:

Many, many days of the Commissions hearings were devoted to the allegations of the capture of Prasa and strident denials thereof, especially by Mr Montana. However, I am left with the uneasy perception that there is much about the ills of Prasa that has not yet been uncovered.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montana, Lucky Living people 21st-century South African people Year of birth missing (living people)