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The funeral service of former Gauteng Health MEC Brian Hlongwa, 31 December 2025.
The City of Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has paid tribute to former Gauteng Health MEC Brian Hlongwa, describing him as an advocate for discipline and accountability.
Hlongwa passed away last week following a short illness. He also served as the Gauteng Health MEC between 2006-2009.
Morero says Hlongwa was not only a patriot but an educator and competent to the very end.
“In his political leadership roles, he remained firm, advocated for discipline and accountability by all those who were put into positions of responsibility to serve our nation. He was a mentor and a strategist. Comrade Brian was certainly not a saint; however, he was a doer,” adds Morero.
#BrianHlongwa Morero: Farewell Young Lion of OR Tambo. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/MlCPjHFbCS
— #LordOfTheMedia (@samkelemaseko) December 31, 2025
Similarly, Hlongwa’s son, Thami Hlongwa, has described his late father as a real-life superhero.
His two daughters Nokuthula and Zanele could not be present at his funeral on Wednesday due to academic commitments overseas.
Thami told mourners gathered at the Walter Sisulu Hall in Randburg, Gauteng, that he will carry the values that his father instilled in him.
“I will continue to go forward in all my ambitions with the values he has both directly and indirectly instilled in me, knowing that he is watching over me and my sisters and my family with love and support. It is with this knowledge that I can state with utmost sincerity that the virtues that my father sacrificed his life for are undying and will continue to flourish by the grace of God. For the legacy he has left is eternal, through every heart that he touched. My father, Brian Thamsanqa Hlongwa, is not dead, he is just asleep.”
#BrianHlongwa Mkhonto We-Sizwe pays tribute to their fallen warrior of the Young Lions generation in song that heeded the call of OR Tambo to render the country ungovernable. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/X8pDtzR34q
— #LordOfTheMedia (@samkelemaseko) December 31, 2025
Meanwhile, a family representative for Hlongwa says the late former Gauteng Health MEC used his pension fund to defend the upcoming corruption trial.
Dr Vusi Hlongwa was speaking at Hlongwa’s funeral service.
At the time of his death, Hlongwa faced corruption and money laundering charges that occurred while he was the Gauteng Health MEC.
Dr Hlongwa says Brian spent his final days trying to clear his name.
“He spent millions of rands. He told me that there are volumes of papers, and he paid the lawyers for every page in that volume. He spent his last time being ready to defend himself. And that is why today, when he can’t speak for himself, some of us will have to stand up and say, can they come and produce concrete evidence? And these so-called billions of rands that he siphoned, I wish we made a luxurious funeral with those billions. He had no billions,” says family representative Dr Hlongwa.
Related video| Former Gauteng Health MEC Brian Hlongwa’s funeral service underway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eCfUoFoKf0
