FORMER Gauteng health MEC Brian Hlongwa is expected to appear in court on Tuesday after allegations were made ten years ago that he had received kickbacks from tenders.
Hlongwa is scheduled to appear in the Johannesburg Regional Court, facing multiple charges, including fraud, corruption and racketeering.
On Saturday, The Citizen reported that Hlongwa was expected to be arrested sometime this week over corruption claims dating back ten years ago.
An SIU report implicated Hlongwa in wrongdoing between 2006 and 2009.
A report made public in 2018 fingered Hlongwa in allegations of graft, which is believed to have seen a company called 3P Consulting – owned by businessman Richard Payne, a known associate of Hlongwa’s – awarded R1.2 billion worth of government contracts in exchange for providing civil servants with kickbacks.
According to the report, Hlongwa – who was at the helm of the province’s healthcare at the time – scored big in the form of luxury spa treatments, trips, and a multi-million-rand deposit on a plush Bryanston home from the dodgy dealings.
It’s taken years, however, to move on him and he in the interim has resigned from his position as MEC on the back of calls for his removal.
Last year, four other senior departmental officials who were implicated in the SIU report – Sybil Ngcobo, Mmakgosi Mosupi, Valdis Romaano and Obakeng Mookeletsi – were arrested and charged with corruption and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
They were granted bail of various amounts of between R8 000 and R25 000.
- Inside Politics
