Will failing ANC make the right decision on Hlongwa and Mahlangu?

29 October 2018

The ANC’s Integrity Commission is due to announce tomorrow its decision on scandal-plagued Gauteng ANC Chief Whip Brian Hlongwa and former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu.

It is disgraceful that they were both recently re-elected to the failing ANC’s Provincial Executive Committee.

This is despite massive evidence that Hlongwa was implicated in R1.2 billion corruption when he was Health MEC, and Mahlangu was responsible for the Life Esidimeni tragedy that led to 144 deaths.

With elections around the corner, the failing ANC is anxious that they will lose votes if they continue to hold prominent positions.

The DA hopes that the failing ANC makes the right decision and removes them both from public life.

But voters should not be fooled – as President Cyril Ramaphosa said earlier this year when he warmly hugged Mahlangu at an ANC march in Soweto: “a comrade is always a comrade”.

If they are dismissed now, they could very well reappear in other positions after the elections.

Instead of delays and high-level protection they should both appear before a court of law and be punished for their misdeeds.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 29 October 2018