He said the manner in which he respects the ANC there is no way he can defy it if it asks him to resign.
ANC NEC member Bongani Bongo has said that nobody would believe that he is currently not feeling well, something that caused him to not attend a Parliamentary committee, which he chairs, this week.
Bongo asked committee secretary Eddie Mathonsi to stand in his place when the committee on home affairs met to do the business of the day this week.
He wrote to the ANC in Parliament on 30 August 2020, asking for a leave of absence.
Bongo faces charges of corruption for the alleged bribery of advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara, the man who chaired a Parliamentary inquiry into the alleged State Capture by the Gupta family.
During a virtual meeting of Parliament’s home affairs committee on Tuesday 1 September 2020, committee members wanted to know why Bongo was absent.
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The DA’s Joseph McGluwa asked where Bongo as “people can’t join this [virtual] meeting” as they are looking for links.
“Where is the chairperson?”, said McGluwa referring to Bongo.
Bongo, an advocate himself from Mpumalanga, is accused of facilitating State Capture – serving as a middleman between the President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family…
His trial at a Western Cape high court is set to be heard before 2020 ends.
He is charged with corruption after he was arrested by the Hawks in late 2019.
But Bongo’s defence team is confident that he will walk away free from the case, given that there are “contradicting statements” by those who are accusing him.
Bongo told 013NEWS Friday 4 September 2020 that the way he respects the ANC there is no way he can defy it when it asks him to resign.
“And also such decisions should in line with the country’s Constitution and that of the ANC,” he said when he spoke to the reporter after repeated attempts to find him.
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The affable Siyabuswa politician said heard media speculating about “my position concerning the resolution of the 54th national conference of the ANC that comrades who have been charged should voluntarily step aside”.
“I will wait for ANC secretary-general Comrade Ace Magashule to communicate the decision of the ANC NEC to me,” Bongo said, adding until such time he will respect his party ‘s decision and do as it asks.
The party’s NEC a week ago resolved that members charged with wrong-going should resign.
“Im not well honestly, that’s the reason I asked not to be available to chair the committee,” he said.
(edited by ZK)
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