MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday, July 29, 2014 INAPPROPRIATE BRIAN HLONGWA MUST BE SPEEDILY BANNED FROM GAUTENG LEGISLATURE Thank you to the Mail and Guardian edition dated 25 July 2014, we now know about the elaborate corruption and defrauding of the people’s Gauteng Department of Health - allegedly by Brian Hlongwa, who is current ANC Party Caucus Whip in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) and former Member of the Executive Council (MEC) of the Gauteng Health department. Brian Hlongwa is alleged to have received millions of Rand in cash bribes in aid of sustaining a life of luxury and opulence through the purchase of a R7.2 million Bryanston house - paid for and in exchange for facilitating contracts worth billions on behalf of his friends and business associates, namely: Heinz Smidek, Niven Pillay and Richard Paine. This latest revelation about yet another corrupt ANC government leader is not only disgusting but a downright shameful slap in the face of the millions of poor, displaced and unemployed South Africans who so desperately depend on government services and grants for their basic survival. Mgcini Tshwaku, Convenor of EFF Gauteng: “The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Gauteng confirms that yesterday (Monday, 28 July, 2014), we submitted a complaint to the Integrity Commissioner of the Legislature; Dr. Ralph Radebe Mgijima, demanding that Brian Hlongwa be immediately suspended and investigated for the alleged receiving bribes from associates and friends who received massive tenders to the tune of billions from the Department of Health – during his time in that department as MEC.” Not so long ago, the country had to wake up to horrific news about another ANC Parliamentary leader, Thandi Modise, who repeatedly enslaved workers on her Modderfontein farm in the North West Province who worked without food, pay or even blankets; and starved hundreds of animals to death. As if this was not enough, residents of Honeydew and Zandspruit (North of Johannesburg) had to endure violent ANC-government aided Red Ants evictions in the middle of the coldest winter week of this 2014 in Gauteng. Further, these despicable actions make an absolute mockery and are a betrayal of the ANC led government’s own adoption of the so-called “Batho Pele” values as well as the Constitution of the country and Bill of Rights that demand unequivocally that the government should be based on the will of the people obligating the state to respect, protect, promote and fulfil these rights. Ethically, public representatives as a general moral code or principle (and further as stipulated in the Standing Rules, for instance, of the GPL’S Standing Rules), are bound by their oath to (amongst other things) be: “accountable to the electorate and have a duty to maintain public trust in democratic institutions”. The EFF cannot understand how such a blatant trend of theft, corruption, callousness and violations against the people of Gauteng and the country at large can ever be understood as respecting these Constitutional imperatives and maintaining the trust of people in democratic institutions. To demonstrate commitment to the Constitution of the Country and the GPL’s own Standing Rules, the EFF urges the Integrity Commissioner GPL to heed our complaint and call for a thorough investigation and for the Speaker to suspend Brain Hlongwa immediately without delay. Ends Issued By: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Gauteng Communications Sub-Committee
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 13:28:51 +0000