By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Suspended uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veteran’s Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus has been expelled from the African National Congress (ANC).
Niehaus was charged with six counts of misconduct, for “contravening Rule 25 of the ANC Constitution”.
A report signed by the National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) chairperson Ralph Mgijimi dated 12 December – which Fullview has seen – details the various transgressions and witnesses who testified for and against him.
The NDC found Niehaus guilty in all six charges of misconduct for bringing the party into disrepute.
The ANC said this was related to comments made in June and July 2021, which brought the party “into disrepute”.
In his findings, Mgijima said the committee believed that the charges for which Niehaus had been found guilty were severe.
“As such, the charged member’s plea that he be sanctioned with a reprimand if found guilty is wholly inappropriate.”
The NDC resolved that “the charged member [Niehaus] is expelled from the ANC”.
In handing down such a hash ruling, Mgijima said the NDC had taken into consideration that the utterances were made by Niehaus “at a time when the circumstances surrounding the arrest and subsequent committal to prison of former president Jacob 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”.
The NDC found that Niehaus had not demonstrated any remorse and persisted in his view that the ANC was violating its constitution and his rights by disciplining him.
“The NDC took into consideration the fact that the charged member is a senior and long-standing member of the ANC, had served a term of imprisonment for his political beliefs, and held strong and sometimes contrary views on the policies of the ANC and positions adopted by the NEC from time to time.”
This was in relation to his defence of Zuma following the Constitutional Court ruling he be imprisoned for contempt of court.
One of his comments was that “the ruling of the Constitutional Court is a travesty of justice… The law is being used selectively as an instrument to fight political and factional battles.”
In 2021 Niehaus was fired after he issued a statement in which he said ANC employees would lay criminal charges against “ANC national office bearers and member of the party’s national executive committee for the continued non-payment of salaries and general abuse of ANC staff due to the criminal conduct by the senior management of the ANC”.
Niehaus later backtracked in a letter to the ANC and said he was laying criminal charges against the party in his personal capacity.
He is an overt detractor of ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa – who hopes for a second term at the helm of the governing party.
Ramaphosa is facing off with former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize in the upcoming leadership election to be held on the 16-20 December.