Hlongwa fought very hard to clear his name: Family

FILE | Former Gauteng Health MEC Brian Hlongwa.

The family of the late former Gauteng Health MEC Brian Hlongwa says he always wanted to prove his innocence, following a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report implicating him in alleged corruption in the department during his tenure.

Hlongwa died in hospital on Tuesday following a short illness.

At the time of his death, Hlongwa together with his wife Joeline and six others were facing charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering in relation to multi-million rand transactions in the provincial health department.

The accused were due to go on trial in April next year. Hlongwa denied all the allegations against him.

Funeral details are yet to be made public.

Hlongwa’s brother Vusi says, “He fought very hard to clear his name. He would have loved to have his day in court in the first two years of the allegations because he was concerned… unfortunately, this thing dragged for such a long time.”

“As far as the people of South Africa are concerned, I think the family would ask to be given the privacy to mourn the loss of our brother and surely, if he had his time, he would have proven his innocence.”