The Zondo commission resumes this morning to continue its probe into allegations of corruption at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
A practicing attorney, Madimpe Mogashoa, will take the stand.
Last week, the commission heard from Judge Nana Makhubele who is the former chairperson of Prasa's interim board.
Prasa's head of legal Martha Ngoye and general manager for Prasa legal services Fani Dingiswayo had testified that when Makhubele was appointed as chairperson of Prasa's interim board she became preoccupied with the legal matter involving Siyaya.
Siyaya had been in a legal dispute with Prasa in 2017 regarding services the company claimed it rendered but was not paid for. Prasa disputed the funds and services provided by Siyaya at the time.
Ngoye said Makhubele had motivated for Prasa's legal team to settle the matter with Siyaya and pay the company over R50 million in claims. The team had been against such a settlement, according to Ngoye and Dingiswayo.
The two claimed Makhubele had shared confidential information with Siyaya's legal team and had prevented Prasa's legal team from being involved in the matter. The issue was later settled at an arbitration proceeding and agreed that Prasa would pay Siyaya R59 million with interest added.
Ngoye testified that Prasa did not eventually pay over the funds and the minister of transport at the time, Blade Nzimande, supported Prasa's legal team's efforts to have the settlement rescinded. A High Court dispute over the matter was later settled in Prasa's favour.
Makhubele on Wednesday denied the claims and said she was never preoccupied with settling Siyaya matters.
"I deny that I am one of the people who have been found wanting in any report be it by the Auditor General, Public Protector or any court of law. No one has found me guilty about wrongdoing at Prasa.
"It is not true that I asked about the Siyaya matter when I arrived. That is not true. When I met them (Ngoye and Dingiswayo) we had a general discussion about Prasa," Makhubele told the commission.
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