Johannesburg – The Spanish manufacturer of Prasa’s controversial Afro4000 locomotives failed to disclose payments of over R75m made to a former colleague and “friend” of the embattled state-owned company’s former CEO, after National Treasury asked the European rail company about its financial ties with local “subcontractors” and “partners”.

News24 can today reveal that Vossloh España, the supplier of the ill-fated trains to the Passenger Rail Agency (Prasa), paid altogether R75m to S-Investments, a company whose sole director is Makhensa Mabunda, a former government official and erstwhile colleague of Lucky Montana, Prasa’s former CEO.

The payments, which were made between 2014 and 2015, came after Prasa in 2012 awarded a R3.5bn contract for 70 new locomotives to Swifambo Rail Leasing, a local company that was set up only a year before Prasa first advertised the tender.

Swifambo, which had no track record in the rail industry, procured the trains from Vossloh España after it had won the tender.

News24 has seen documents confirming Vossloh España’s payments to S-Investments. The documents relate to an investigation into Prasa’s tenders and contracts that was instituted following a recommendation by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela in her 2015 report into Prasa’s financial affairs, Derailed.

The Valencia-based manufacturer labelled the payments as fees for “management consulting services” and “architectural, engineering and other technical services”, the documents show. The total of R75m was paid in four tranches between February 2014 and October 2015.

Correspondence 

News24 has also seen correspondence between Treasury’s procurement division and Stadler Rail Valencia that deals with Vossloh España’s payments to companies and individuals in South Africa.

Vossloh España changed its name to Stadler Rail Valencia after it was acquired by Swiss company Stadler Rail in 2016.

In April 2017, Mariano Marti, Stadler Rail Valencia’s vice president for sales, claimed in a letter to Treasury that Vossloh España had only made payments of about R3m to South African “subcontractors”. Marti, therefore, failed to mention the R75m that Vossloh España had paid to S-Investments.

Marti also refused to tell Treasury who his company’s South African “subcontractors” or “partners” were, citing confidentiality considerations.

Lucky Montana (Alet Pretorius, Netwerk24)

Last week Stadler Rail spokesperson Marina Winder insisted that Marti was correct when he told Treasury that Vossloh España only paid South African subcontractors about €200 000 (less than R3m).

“According to our information, payments of just under 6 million Swiss francs (the R75m payment to S-Investments) did not exist,” Winder told the Tages-Anzeiger, a Swiss newspaper with which News24 is collaborating on this issue.

Winder added that Stadler was well aware of the ongoing issues around the Prasa deal when Stadler bought Vossloh España. For that reason, Stadler obtained a liability guarantee from Vossloh for any possible misconduct, “for which there is currently no evidence”, Winder told Tages-Anzeiger.

Mabunda, however, did not deny that his company had received R75m from Vossloh España. He refused to discuss the payments in detail.

Stadler Rail’s comments are also contradicted by the detailed information on Vossloh España’s payments to Mabunda’s company, as seen by News24.

ANC ‘fundraiser’ and Zuma’s friend

The latest revelations about Vossloh España’s payments come in the wake of earlier reports by Rapport and News24 that Swifambo itself had made suspicious payments related to the locomotives deal. The company paid roughly R80m to an Angolan businesswoman who called herself a friend of President Jacob Zuma and to a local lawyer who’d introduced himself to Swifambo’s managing director as a fundraiser for the ANC. 

The payments made by Vossloh España to Mabunda’s S-Investments, along with Swifambo’s above-mentioned payments, appear to provide credence to claims that the tender was accompanied by alleged bribes or kickbacks.

Prasa’s contract for much-needed new locomotives first made headlines when Rapport revealed that the Afro4000’s were too tall for South Africa’s rail network. 

There are several indications that Mabunda, who is not registered as a director of Swifambo, was the mastermind behind Swifambo’s bid to become Prasa’s locomotives supplier. Mabunda has previously denied this assertion.

In earlier papers filed in Prasa’s successful court application to have the tender set aside, it was alleged that Swifambo’s managing director, Auswell Mashaba, received instructions from Mabunda to set up Swifambo. Mabunda allegedly told Mashaba that he was a friend of Montana. Papers filed in the same court case also showed that someone from the S Group, another of Mabunda’s companies, picked up and signed for the Prasa tender documents on behalf of Swifambo.

It was also in this court case in which it was alleged that Mashaba paid about R40m to George Sabelo, a lawyer with ties to President Jacob Zuma’s family who was allegedly introduced to Mashaba as a “fundraiser” for the ANC.

Montana and Mabunda’s history

News24 has subsequently established that the relationship between Montana and Mabunda goes back to at least 2002, when the two were both officials in the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).

Mabunda was the DPE’s director for financial performance whilst Montana was its director for parliamentary services and stakeholder liaison, according to the department’s 2002-’03 annual report.

Apart from Mabunda’s Spanish windfall, companies under his control also scored tenders from Prasa worth more than R5bn during Montana’s tenure as CEO.

Mabunda did not want to discuss the payments S-Investments received from Vossloh España in any detail.

“My companies do a lot of work for international companies,” said Mabunda.

He confirmed that he knew Montana from their days working as DPE officials.

“The media has been writing a lot of incorrect things about me and my companies, so I am not going to speak to the media any more. You guys can write what you want,” he told News24.

Montana could not be reached on his cellphone. He did not respond to text messages sent to him.

Prasa and Treasury indicated that they would respond to News24’s queries before our deadline, but both failed to do so. 

Do you have information for our investigative journalists? Send an email totips@24.com

West Palm Beach – US President Donald Trump, on the defensive in the wake of recent disparaging comments about Haiti and African nations that have revived questions about whether the leader of the world’s melting pot is a racist, declared on Sunday that he is not one.

“No, No. I am not a racist,” Trump told reporters who asked for his response to those who think he is a racist. “I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. That I can tell you.”

Trump also denied making the statements attributed to him, but avoided delving into the specifics of what he did or did not say.

“Did you see what various senators in the room said about my comments?” he asked, referring to lawmakers who were meeting with him in the Oval Office on Thursday when Trump is said to have made the comments. “They weren’t made.”

Trump stands accused of using “shithole” to describe African countries during an immigration meeting with a bipartisan group of six senators. The president, in the meeting, also questioned the need to admit more Haitians to the US, according to people who were briefed on the conversation but were not authorised to describe the meeting publicly.

Trump said in the meeting that he would prefer immigrants from countries like Norway instead.

The White House has not denied that Trump said “shithole” though Trump has already pushed back on some depictions of the meeting.

‘Vile, hate-filled and clearly racial’ 

A confidant of Trump’s told The Associated Press that the president spent Thursday evening calling friends and outside advisers to judge their reaction to his remarks. Trump wasn’t apologetic and denied he was racist, instead blaming the media for distorting his meaning, said the confidant, who wasn’t authorised to disclose a private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the only Democrat at Thursday’s meeting, said Trump had indeed said what he was reported to have said. Durbin said the remarks were “vile, hate-filled and clearly racial in their content”. He said Trump used the most vulgar term “more than once”.

Trump commented as Durbin was presenting details of a compromise immigration plan that included providing $1.6 billion for a first instalment of the president’s long-sought border wall.

Trump took particular issue with the idea that people who’d fled to the US after disasters hit their homes in places such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti would be allowed to stay as part of the deal, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to publicly describe the discussion.

When it came to talk of extending protections for Haitians, Durbin said Trump replied: “We don’t need more Haitians.”

“He said, ‘Put me down for wanting more Europeans to come to this country. Why don’t we get more people from Norway?'” Durbin said.

Republican Senators David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who also attended the meeting, initially said in a statement on Friday that they “do not recall the president saying these comments specifically.” On Sunday, they backtracked and challenged other senators’ descriptions of the remarks.

Perdue described as a “gross misrepresentation” reports that Trump used the vulgarity. He said Durbin and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were mistaken in indicating that was the case. Graham also attended the meeting.

‘Gross misrepresentation’ 

“I am telling you that he did not use that word. And I’m telling you it’s a gross misrepresentation,” Perdue said on ABC’s This Week.

Cotton told CBS’ Face the Nation that he “didn’t hear” the word used — “and I was sitting no further away from Donald Trump than Dick Durbin was”.

Trump insisted in a tweet on Friday that he “never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems.” Trump wrote, “I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!”

Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

Word of Trump’s comments threatened to upend delicate negotiations over resolving the status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children. Trump announced last year that he will end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, or DACA, unless lawmakers come up with a solution by March. The programme shielded these immigrants, often referred to as “Dreamers”, from deportation and granted them work permits.

Trump tweeted earlier on Sunday that the programme is “probably dead” and blamed Democrats. He elaborated on the way to dinner with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., saying Democrats “don’t want to help the DACA people”.

DACA is probably dead because the Democrats don’t really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018

Some Democrats have threatened to vote against legislation to extend government funding, which expires on Friday, unless protections for the Dreamers are included.

“Honestly I don’t think the Democrats want to make a deal,” Trump said. “I think they talk about DACA but they don’t want to help the DACA people.”

Trump said Democrats aren’t for securing the border and stopping the flow of drugs.

“We have a lot of sticking points but they’re all Democrat sticking points. We are ready, willing and able to make a deal.”