Embattled former Gauteng Health MEC Brian Hlongwa has stepped aside from his job at an ANC leadership school as a result of the raft of corruption charges he is facing.
Hlongwa, who was charged with corruption with eight others in December, after 10 years of allegations of tender fraud, has stepped aside as a senior staff member at the party’s OR Tambo School of Leadership.
The school’s principal is Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo and the board chairperson is former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
Other board members include Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola, Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale, ANC general manager Febe Potgieter-Gqubule and KwaZulu-Natal MEC for education Kwazi Mshengu.
One of the tasks of the school – which offers a course in revolutionary morality, ethics and culture – is to produce ethical leaders. The school’s continued association with Hlongwa after being charged with corruption was therefore seen as undermining its objectives.
There was confusion in the governing party after Hlongwa did not write a letter confirming he was officially stepping aside from the school after he was charged with fraud, money laundering and racketeering in December. As a result, Hlongwa’s matter divided opinion in the governing party, with some still believing he should stay in his position while others were pushing for his removal.
While some members felt that Hlongwa was just an ANC staff member and should be subjected to the Labour Relations Act, others felt that as a party member he was obliged to comply with the party’s step-aside rule.
In terms of the rule, all members of the ANC charged with corruption and other serious crimes must step aside and clear their names.
“Brian is not in an elected position so you can’t use the step-aside rule. He works for the ANC. The policy is for leaders,” a senior ANC leader sympathetic to Hlongwa said.
Other sources claimed that the radical economic transformation faction had targeted him.
“He stepped aside from the ANC in Gauteng and the legislature. He is employed at the school so the school, as much as it is an ANC school, has nothing to do with his charges.”
The school’s COO, Sabelo Silinga, said: “After getting charged, comrade Brian Hlongwa elected to voluntarily step aside.”Hlongwa said though he was merely a staff member at the school, he had voluntarily stepped aside following his charging.
“This is an issue of ethical leadership,” he said.
Hlongwa issued a statement in October 2008 in which he asked to be relieved of his duties as the ANC chief whip to deal with the allegations against him.
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