Bongani Bongo (left), seen here with Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, chairs the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on home affairs. Image: GCIS
The ANC’s integrity commission has recommended that MP Bongani Bongo, who stands accused of corruption, “step aside” from his ANC activities and positions, the party’s integrity commission chairperson George Mashamba has confirmed.
This includes Bongo’s deployment as a Member of Parliament.
The commission recommended that the national executive committee (NEC) instruct Bongo to step down until he has cleared his name, to restore the public’s confidence in the ANC’s position of zero tolerance against corruption, according to Business Day.
Mashamba confirmed the recommendation to News24 on Saturday.
The commission also recommended that the NEC rebuke Bongo and caution him against causing divisions within the party.
Former state security minister and now chair of the parliamentary committee on home affairs, Bongo is accused of trying to disrupt a Parliamentary inquiry into state capture at power utility Eskom on October 10, 2017, News24 previously reported.
He allegedly approached an advocate within the commission who was an evidence leader to take sick leave on the day of the commencement of the inquiry with a view to derail the proceedings.
The advocate was allegedly offered a bribe, and he alerted his seniors in Parliament. A Hawks investigation commenced after the DA laid charges against Bongo.
Several ANC stalwarts recently came out to slam the party’s initial statement following Bongo’s arrest, News24 reported.
This after party spokesperson Pule Mabe called for the law to take its course and for Bongo to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Earlier this year, Parliament’s joint ethics committee agreed to set up a subcommittee to look into charges of misconduct against Bongo.
The former minister currently serves as a member of Parliament for the ANC and was elected as chair of Parliament’s home affairs committee in July.
At the time, the ANC insisted its choices for chairpersons of the National Assembly’s committees were “capable comrades” and were not there to serve certain factions.
Bongo was released on R5,000 bail and is due to return to court in Cape Town in January, 2020.
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