Tributes continue to pour in following the passing of former Gauteng health MEC and long-time ANC politician Brian Hlongwa.
Hlongwa passed away on Tuesday, December 23, following a short illness.
Gauteng acting Premier Jacob Mamabolo described Hlongwa as a distinct leader who dedicated his life to the service of other people.
Acting premier pays tribute
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of former MEC Hlongwa. He served the people of Gauteng with distinction. Through different portfolios from his days in the City of Johannesburg to serving as an MEC. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time of great loss,” said Mamabolo.
Hlongwa served in the Gauteng provincial government as MEC for Health from March 2006 to May 2009. He was a member of the African National Congress and served multiple terms on the ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC).
Before being health MEC, Hlongwa was MMC responsible for municipal services in the City of Joburg from 2000 to 2006.
Known for his sharp debating skills during his high school days, he formally started his political activism in 1980. This was after being recruited into the Congress of South African Students (Cosas).
Struggle background
A Sowetan by birth, his eagerness in the freedom struggle was inspired by the late Steve Biko and a number of political activists and leaders who emerged from South Africa’s biggest township.
Hlongwa started out as an activist of the Soweto Youth Congress and Southern Transvaal Youth Congress (STYCO). Then joined the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) and later the ANC Youth League.
“Comrade Hlongwa was also recruited into the underground structures of the ANC and Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) before 1990. Because of his involvement in those underground structures, he became part of the security machinery provided to the late President Nelson Mandela in the early days of his release from jail,” said the ANC in Gauteng.
Gave his life to fighting for equality
“Comrade Hlongwa was also active in the activities of the Soweto Civic Association (SCA). His political activism did not stop there. He was at a later stage elected as the then ANCYL PWV Regional Chairperson. This was in the early stages of the rebuilding of the organisation after the unbanning of the ANC and the broader liberation movements in 1990.
“Even while working as the National Coordinator for the Labour-Intensive Projects Trust, he was still an active member of the ANC and ANCYL. He was later appointed as a ANC Chief Whip of the GPL from 2009 to 2019. He also served as a member of the ANC Gauteng PEC for several years. There, he was responsible for Political Education and Training,” the ANC went on.
“Comrade Brian was an astute and seasoned political educator. He also served at the OR Tambo School of Leadership as a manager dealing with political education programmes.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, relatives, comrades, friends and all those whose lives were touched by his unwavering commitment to the ideals of the African National Congress and the struggle for a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.”
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