Brian Hlongwa resigns as Gauteng ANC chief whip
The African National Congress' (ANC) chief whip in the Gauteng legislature, Brian Hlongwa, has confirmed his decision to step down.
In a media statement released on Tuesday, Hlongwa said he decided to step down in order to defend himself against accusations of corruption.
A Special Investigation Unit (SIU) report implicated the former Gauteng health MEC in fraud, corruption and nepotism to the tune of R1.2 billion between 2006 and 2009.
Opposition parties in the Gauteng Legislature have been calling for the ANC to remove him from office.
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Civil organisations Corruption Watch and the Treatment Action Campaign marched in August, calling for Hlongwa and former MEC for Health in Gauteng, Qedani Mahlangu, to be criminally prosecuted.
“This decision has been informed by the need to resolve the 8-year-long accusations, without having the matter aired in the courts of the country. Furthermore, the African National Congress is committed to natural justice and my continued stay as the chief whip in the Gauteng legislature would have distracted the movement from its task of mobilising our people behind a program to unite, renew and create jobs,” Hlongwa said.
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Jack Bloom believes the ANC pushed Hlongwa into resigning ahead of the 2019 elections.
“I think the ANC is very embarrassed because they were going into elections with him as a senior member of the party. So he has been probably pushed to do this and not for the right reasons, they should have done it in principle a long time ago and the suspicion remains on whether he will re-appear in another position after the elections. The important point is that this goes to court, he has been protected for far too long.”
The ANC's provincial integrity committee recommended to the Gauteng leadership that Mahlangu, Hlongwa and the party's Sedibeng regional chairperson Simon Mofokeng be removed from public office and stripped of their membership.
Spokesperson Tasneem Motara says the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) disagrees with the integrity commission on the issue of membership and will engage the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
"We strongly feel we will further receive clarity and guidance from the NEC, which is meeting to reflect on their own national integrity commission report which has made recommendations on membership of the comrades. If need be the PEC will reconvene to discuss those matters if the NEC guides us differently," says Motara.