South Africa

'RADICAL ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION'

We won’t allow Zuma to be arrested or Ace to step aside, says Carl Niehaus

We won’t allow Zuma to be arrested or Ace to step aside, says Carl Niehaus
Carl Niehaus supports former president Jacob Zuma during his appearance at the Durban High Court, where he faces corruption charges on 8 June, 2018 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla)

Supporters of former president Jacob Zuma and the ANC secretary-general have vowed to protect Jacob Zuma from imminent arrest and Ace Magashule from stepping aside.

“It is a very long statement, comrades, but we thought that we should give you the developments, the genesis of the persecution of Nxamalala [Jacob Zuma] in the past 20 or so years,” Gauteng leader and Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus said on Monday.

“We won’t allow Zuma to be arrested or [ANC Secretary-General] Ace [Magashule] to step aside,” said Niehaus.

“We were asked many times, comrades, what we mean by protecting Msholozi [Zuma]. Part of what we mean by protecting Msholozi is to make sure that the message goes out why uBaba [Zuma] has taken the decision that he has taken.” 

Niehaus said the mainstream media and “White Monopoly Capital”-controlled media were avoiding the main issue of why Zuma had decided to defy the Zondo Commission and the Constitutional Court. 

Niehaus pledged support for Magashule at the Bloemfontein High Court where he is due to appear on Friday on 21 corruption charges.  

Earlier in the day, Zuma had indicated through his lawyers that he would not appear at the Zondo Commission where he had been summoned to appear. 

In KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma’s supporters, including members of the ‘Radical Economic Transformation’ (RET) brigade, told Talk Radio 702 that they would prevent any attempt to arrest the former president.

“We are ready to put up a human shield against Jacob Zuma,” the group’s Nkosenhle Shezi said.

After it became clear that Zuma was not going to appear before the commission, its chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, gave an elaborate account of the former president’s defiance of the commission and the Constitutional Court. 

The commission concluded that the Constitutional Court would be the right authority to determine the punishment for Zuma’s defiance.

Niehaus said Zuma was not defying the Constitution but was protecting the commission. 

The gathering, at the Booysens Hotel in Johannesburg, kicked off with the song “Asinalo uvalo ngalo Zuma,” (We have no fear in Zuma). The lyrics were juggled between support for Zuma and Magashule. The group then sang the Zuma anthem “Wenzeni uZuma?” (What has Zuma done?)

“We are Ace, Ace is us. We are Zuma, Zuma is us,” they chanted.

About 50 people attended in line with Covid-19 protocol, which allows gatherings of only 50 people.

“We are taking this move because war has been waged. Why are others involved in corruption not treated the same as Zuma? They want to kill him and we won’t allow that. All other presidents are enjoying their pensions but Zuma should enjoy his in jail or in a hospital bed,” said Sibusiso Hadebe of the Gauteng RET President Zuma Support Group.

The group said Zuma had been falsely accused in former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s Nkandla report.

“Why are they not challenging the current president to go to the Zondo Commission and say what happened to state-owned entities?” Hadebe asked.

Niehaus said the statement he was reading sought to bring to the fore the long history of “a declaration of war against Zuma” and that those waging the war must be exposed.

The group said there was a long-standing plan to prevent Zuma and the murdered South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Chris Hani from becoming presidents of the ANC.

“For over two decades our country has witnessed the political targeting of Jacob Zuma. In the mid-1980s in discussions between the CIA and British intelligence – to be more specific, MI6 – there were discussions on who must never be allowed to become the presidents of South Africa when the African National Congress was to eventually gain power.”

Niehaus said Hani was targeted because of his unwavering and principled communist commitment.

He claimed Zuma was targeted because as head of intelligence of the African National Congress, he knew far too much about “Western intelligence agents” who had infiltrated the ANC.

“President Zuma, on the back of his huge popularity among the grassroots members of the ANC in the branches, was to rise through the ranks of the ANC to become president. And a vicious character assassination programme and propaganda campaign was unleashed on the back of politically trumped-up charges,” claimed Niehaus.

The Gauteng RET group said they would not allow Zuma to be arrested or Magashule to step aside.

“It’s time to throw down the gauntlet,” said Niehaus. DM

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  • Miles Japhet says:

    Very surprised you give these individuals any air time – it gives them some positioning when all they are doing is trying to gain some limelight.
    Pathetic delusional people who do not have the interests of the poor at heart.

    • Brendan Murray says:

      I’d rather know exactly how they are attempting to revise History to rev up their base than not. If you don’t know what their argument is, how are you supposed to counter it? The only way to transform a democracy is Dialogue and Dialogue, by its very nature, requires you to hear out the other side. This wasn’t an interview; this was a press conference. I’m surprised you’re surprised ‘they’ covered it. Keep up the good work!

  • Sergio CPT says:

    What a pathetic idiot! A miserable, thieving, deceitful and obnoxious clown! Call their bluff. One shot in the air and these fake soldiers will scatter like rabbits. Why does the media even interview this moron and give him chapter and verse. He and his ilk are nobodies.

  • Rudd van Deventer says:

    Another old afrikaaner in fatigues. Maybe he will fall off his horse and has torn underwear……
    Past his sell by date.

  • Andre Louw says:

    I am dumbfounded as to why Daily Maverick gives this discredited fool the coverage it does.It reminds me of similar coverage given to erstwhile buffoon, Eugene Terreblanche.

  • Hermann Funk says:

    Why to give this clown any exposure?

  • Coen Gous says:

    Wow, the police/hawks must be shaking in their boots with fear. These geriatrics, together with Edward, Zuma’s son, are about to defend Nkandla (the modern Alamo), armed with knopkieries, walking sticks, rocks, and torn mattresses.

  • Sergio CPT says:

    Nkandla should be seized in the process as it doesn’t belong to zuma. It is stolen tax payers money! Turn it into a clinic, school and library for the community!

  • Dennis Bailey says:

    The people SA think it’s time to pick up the gauntlet and throw Zuma and all who are responsible for bringing untold hardship upon the vulnerable poor into the slammer; with, if necessary, these deluded individuals too, until such a time as they are prepared to be held to account for the disaster of governance they had made. Give them all that they are asking for and more. There is no moral high ground until we the people create one worth defending.

  • Gerrit Marais says:

    Why give this organism any air time?

  • Con Tester says:

    Looking at this from the outside, the parallels with an insane religious cult are striking, complete with a persecuted martyr and followers prepared to kill or die for him. But the real giveaway is where “Niehaus said Zuma was not defying the Constitution but was protecting the commission.” Reinventing reality is an primary characteristic of mad cults.

  • Rodney Weidemann says:

    Well, you know what tends to happen to individuals who try to prevent the police from arresting a man who has defied the highest court in the land?
    they arrest them as well, so please, Carl, do all you can to prevent them from arresting JZ783 – I for one would absolutely love to see you end up in jail again, along with any of these other tools who seem to believe that the CIA, British intelligence, WMC and a whole host of other ‘deep state operatives’ only want Zuma jailed because, well apparently they just hate him so much, even though he’s no longer the president they wanted to prevent him becoming all those years ago – it’s obviously not because he has repeatedly defied the rule of law, consistently damaged the country and, you know, stolen about 90% of the fiscus.

  • Stef Viljoen Viljoen says:

    I agree with what a lot of the other commentators are saying. I am not sure why we are still talking about this muppet. I guess his antics are funny to some extent, but surely not really newsworthy?

    • Michael Aldridge says:

      It is extremely foolish to wish away information on what the radical crazies are up to and to condemn the Daily Maverick for reporting on what they are up to. This is not a matter of “giving airtime” to the views and actions of Niehaus and his ilk. There is trouble brewing in SA from whatever it is that the Zuma-Malema-Niehaus coalition represents, which seems to be some sort of African nationalist, neo-fascist movement cloaked with leftist revolutionary rhetoric.

      It’s a vital function of media to keep the public informed about what is happening within the constraints of ethical journalism and the publication of this article supports that principle.

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