New MK Party MP Montana says his focus will be on serving the country

Newly sworn-in uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party parliamentarian, Lucky Montana says his focus will be on serving the country, rather than on what he calls, narratives based on falsehoods.

Montana, who once served as PRASA’s Chief Executive Officer and former Transnet executives Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama were amongst eight members of the MK Party, who were sworn in as MPs.

The trio received some criticism over the State Capture cloud that hangs over them, however, Montana maintains that Chief Justice Raymond Zondo didn’t make any determination against them.

Montana says the three executives served during a period in the golden age, when SOEs in the country were functional.

The man who was once at the helm of PRASA says he won’t be entertaining State Capture allegations against him that could not be sustained. Instead, his role will be to serve the nation.

“So, we are not coming here to defend ourselves because there’s nothing to defend. We are here to say we want to serve the country, and we want to use our experience, our knowledge we’ve gained to benefit the country. But we are walking tall because we are part of the golden generation. People who were presiding over state-owned enterprises and public entities when they worked under the ANC government today, under the GNU, these entities are not working.”

Instead, his main priority will be to help restore the country’s state-owned enterprises back to their former glory.

“One of the major things as MK, we want to see the strengthening of state-owned enterprises, because we believe that this represents massive resources in the hands of the masses to change their lives. That’s one area that I want to champion and then of course, my experience in the transport sector doesn’t start with PRASA. It goes back to the time when I was restructuring the taxi and the bus industry,” Montana added.

One analyst has raised the expulsion of the 18 MK MPs from Parliament. The dismissed MPs claim that they were removed to make way for the newly sworn in MPs.

“But one needs to strike a balance there that the State Capture project, some argue that it was a discourse that was framed by the media because our understanding of political realities is as a result of what is reported to us by the media and discourse is not framed just for fun. Discourse is meant to influence the public. So, one can argue that these people are people who have a history of wrongdoing and do they qualify now to serve in Parliament on behalf of South Africans or on behalf of their constituency? But I think the party, though, has not resolved the elephant in the room with regard to the grievance that has been lodged by the 18 members,” says political analyst Professor Ntsikelelo Benjamin Breakfast.

Something that the MK Party spokesperson refutes, saying the party has brought in the best minds to represent the party in Parliament.

“Let’s not say that those who were replaced were not professionals in their own right, let’s not create a misconception. What we are saying is we need to field a team that’s going to be fit for purpose at this point in time for us as the official opposition and to do so especially if you’re going up against experienced ministers and parties such as the ANC, you need the best of minds so that they don’t mislead South Africans. If you’re a comrade and you’re being deployed, you need to accept especially if you care about the party and especially if you knew then that this was exactly going to happen,” says Nhlamulo Ndhlela.

Meanwhile, Mzwanele Manyi has replaced Sihle Ngubane as its Parliamentary Chief Whip.