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‘I am still an ANC member’, says perennial troublemaker Carl Niehaus after party gives him the boot

‘I am still an ANC member’, says perennial troublemaker Carl Niehaus after party gives him the boot
Des Erasmus
By Des Erasmus
12 Dec 2022
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Carl Niehaus has appealed against the ‘ridiculous, vindictive’ decision by the ANC’s national disciplinary committee to expel him from the party, he said on Monday. He was reacting soon after the committee announced its findings on several charges levelled against the MKMVA member and former party spokesperson.

Carl Niehaus, a staunch ally of former president Jacob Zuma and dedicated to the Radical Economic Transformation faction of the governing party, took to social media on Monday to lash out at the ANC’s national disciplinary committee (NDC), describing it as “a number of minions” who were “empowered” by a “mafia gangster” in the form of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

He had immediately appealed against the ruling expelling him from the ANC, he said, which rendered his expulsion suspended, thus allowing him to remain a member of the party.

In issuing its highest sanction against the man who once falsely claimed his mother to be dead to raise money to pay a R4.3-million debt, the NDC said the six charges he faced were “very serious” and that a simple reprimand, as requested by Niehaus, was “wholly inappropriate”.

While handing down its rebuke of Niehaus, the NDC also expressed “displeasure” over the actions of Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, a staunch Ramaphosa ally. Mbalula had committed to giving evidence against Niehaus, but had not done so, according to the NDC.

Guilty on all charges


Niehaus was found to have brought the governing party into disrepute on all six charges, which involved his defending Zuma in the lead-up to the former president handing himself over and his subsequent jailing on contempt of court charges for failing to appear before the Zondo Commission.

The NDC said in its findings: “No member was exempted or allowed to adopt a posture which defined him or her as being bigger than the organisation.”

July 2021 riots


“The utterances of the charged member were made at a time when the circumstances surrounding the arrest and subsequent committal to prison of former President Zuma was very volatile, as evidenced by the subsequent riots which took place in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng and resultant loss of life and limb and damage to and loss of property.”

Sporadic acts of violence erupted in KwaZulu-Natal less than 24 hours after Zuma was jailed in July 2021, and rapidly progressed into looting and riots throughout the province, and, to a lesser extent, parts of Gauteng, leading to the deaths of more than 400 people — many of them looters.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-05-from-our-archives-carl-niehaus-against-the-world/

The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry said this year that, according to updated figures, the eight days of unrest had led to stock losses of R40-billion, while the value of lost equipment and machinery totalled R20-billion. Damage to property had been valued at R15-billion, with 9,100 jobs placed at risk. 

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The NDC at first recommended Niehaus be suspended for five years, saying he could be “rehabilitated” and return to the organisation as a “person who would clearly understand the dividing line between freedom of speech and freedom to articulate ideas and views on the one hand and indiscipline on the other. 

“However, the failure of the charged member to show any remorse for his misconduct convinced the NDC that he was not capable of being rehabilitated.”

The committee said the decision “was not taken easily” but that “the interests and integrity of the organisation warrant protection” and the “interest of the individual member is subservient to the interests of the organisation”.

“The charged member is expelled from the ANC.” 

Fikile Mbalula


As for Mbalula — who is hoping to win the position of ANC deputy president or secretary-general on Ramaphosa’s ticket at this weekend’s elective conference — the NDC said that in its deliberations, it was unable to use the unsigned affidavit he provided. 

Due to Mbalula not attending the hearings, the committee said, any written evidence he had provided could not be tested under cross-examination by Niehaus’ legal representative, Mathews Phosa.

“The NDC wishes to express its displeasure at the manner in which comrade Mbalula, a senior leader, treated his responsibility as a witness. On one occasion he tendered an apology at short notice which necessitated a postponement of the hearing. On another occasion he was not contactable after he gave an assurance he would attend the hearing. 

“On a third occasion he decided to accompany the ANC President on a campaign in the Free State after the date of hearing was arranged after taking into account his availability.” 

The charges


Count 1 


On 2 July 2021 in Nkandla, Niehaus told a media contingent that the imminent arrest and imprisonment of Zuma was the “most tragic week in the history of South Africa when President Zuma is humiliated once again” and that the Constitutional Court ruling was a “travesty of justice”.

“President Zuma’s legal problems was caused by political factionalism and by shenanigans between state authorities especially the National Prosecuting Authority and some politicians within the ANC.”

He said the law was being used “selectively as an instrument to fight political and factional battles”.

The NDC argued that Niehaus’ utterances were “devoid of any truth and patently false” and intended to “cause confusion and disunity in the ANC”. 

Count 2


On 4 July 2021, in Nkandla, Niehaus told the waiting media: “No one can let Msholozi go to jail, never.”

The NDC found that Niehaus made the statement knowing full well that the party respected the “separation between party and state and consequently could not interfere with the judicial arm of the state”. 

Count 3


On 29 June 2021, Niehaus told the SABC that the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture “was set up to target Zuma”; that the courts had been “captured” and that the country was “in a dictatorship of the judiciary” where the courts were used “for factional political battles”.

The NDC said the Zondo Commission was necessary to determine who was responsible for State Capture and hold them to account, and that Niehaus’ comments were “made recklessly with reference to the ANC position on the commission on State Capture”.

Count 4


According to the NDC, this count was for Niehaus claiming he would help form a human chain to prevent the arrest of Zuma.

Count 5


On 8 July, Niehaus told the SABC outside the Estcourt Correctional Facility, where Zuma was jailed, that the “law was being weaponised as an instrument of factional politics”.

Count 6


On 9 July 2021, Niehaus said on the topic of the imprisonment of Zuma that it was a “disgrace for all the ANC to imprison Jacob Zuma and we should not allow ourselves to be silenced”. DM

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