The ANC in Gauteng is clearly protecting two controversial figures, Qedani Mahlangu and Brian Hlongwa, and that raises the question of why the ANC is protecting them?
The election of Mahlangu and Hlongwa to the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) over the weekend follows on scandals in the Gauteng Department of Health.
After the Life Esidimeni tragedy, which claimed the lives of 144 patients, Qedani Mahlangu resigned as the Gauteng MEC for Health.
When Brian Hlongwa was the MEC for Health, he was implicated in corruption that amounts to R1,2 billion.
Thus far, the ANC has not taken any disciplinary steps against Hlongwa or Mahlangu, because the party’s “integrity commission is still busy with an investigation”. In the interim, health services in the province have collapsed and millions of lives are at stake every day because there are no proper public health services.
The FF Plus is convinced that time will tell who was involved in these two scandals.
The ANC owes the public in Gauteng an explanation for why the internal investigations are not being finalised and must divulge who else is being protected.
The laxity in taking action against Hlongwa and Mahlangu creates the impression that other prominent ANC figures in the province may quite possibly also be involved in corrupt dealings.
The ANC is using its familiar old ANC tactics to not only protect Hlongwa and Mahlangu, but also other corrupt individuals. The political influence that Hlongwa and Mahlangu have within the ANC points to the ANC’s collapsing internal structures and poor leadership.
It seems as if the criminal charges against Hlongwa and Mahlangu are not a priority for the ANC and so corrupt politicians are able to continue looting Gauteng under the protection of the ANC.
The ANC will have to be willing to pay a high price in the 2019 elections when Gauteng voters oust the party at the polls as a result of all this.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on FF Plus
South Africa Today – South Africa News
