By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Expelled ANC member Carl Niehaus has announced his “resignation” from the party following the conclusion of the party’s national elective conference this week.
Niehaus was charged with six counts of misconduct for contravening Rule 25 of the ANC constitution.
In a lengthy statement posted on social media platform Twitter, Niehaus wrote: “It is with great sadness and much pain in my heart that I am issuing this media statement in order to announce and clarify my decision to resign forthwith from the ANC.”
In the letter, Niehaus further stated that he had already e-mailed a copy together with a short cover letter to the Office of the ANC Secretary General (SGO).
“I have furthermore instructed my comrade and legal representative, Mathews Phosa, to officially withdraw my appeal against the spurious, draconian, and illegal, ‘expulsion’ that the kangaroo court of the National Disciplinary Committee so unilaterally, and illegally, imposed on me,” he said.
He indicated that there was no need for him to subject himself to the continuing “farcical kangaroo” court of the ANC National Disciplinary Committee and by extension the National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal.
Niehaus also said charges against him never had any shred of validity.
The MK veteran claimed that there was no chance that any appeal would be adjudicated fairly under the leadership of the newly elected Secretary General (SG) Fikile Mbalula.
“Under that pompous vacuous moronic windbag Fikile Mbalula, who now so farcical emerged as the Secretary-General (SG) of the ANC, there is no chance that any appeal will be adjudicated fairly.
“Mbalula’s own triumphalist dictatorial statement at the closing press conference of the 55th National Conference, that he will be an Inquisition-like enforcer, is more than enough evidence that the so-called ‘New Dawn’, is now a full-blown era of dictatorship and the repression of freedom of speech,” he mentioned.
However, he vowed that his expulsion/resignation wouldn’t be the last seen of him on the South African political landscape. He pledged his full support to the “Radical Economic Transformation” (RET) cause.
He said, “That is what our revolutionary efforts and commitment should now singularly be dedicated to, rather than trying to resuscitate the corpse of our erstwhile beloved former liberation movement, the ANC.”
Niehaus, a former ambassador to the Netherlands, stepped down as ANC spokesperson in 2009 amid fraud allegations.