Carl Niehaus outside in the Bloemfontein Magistrates' Court in June 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images / Volksblad / Mlungisi Louw) 
The former Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) spokesperson Carl Niehaus was nominated by the Sumbandila branch in the Vhembe district to be a part of the 80-member ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC). The branch held a meeting on Sunday where they discussed candidates to lead the party.
Branch chairperson Fistos Mafela told Daily Maverick that Niehaus has the requisite experience and credentials to be a part of the ANC’s highest decision-making body between conferences.
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“Comrade Carl was part of the fight for freedom, he was part of Umkhonto weSizwe in the apartheid era, so the branch had a discusion about him and they agreed that we support him to be a part of the National Executive Committee,” he said.
“There are many people who speak about Carl Niehaus but they do not know him. As a white person he took a critical decision to support the ANC. He was the spokesperson for [former president Nelson] Mandela.
“So, if you can check now, the ANC is highly divided, it cannot even pay its workers. We believe that there are people who will assist this movement to be alive again. It seems as if the ANC is dying and we need people like Carl Niehaus who will come and assist this movement. He joined the movement when some of our grandmothers did not even want to mention the name ANC.”
Mired in controversy
Niehaus has been at the centre of controversy, having been one of the leaders of the Radical Economic Transformation faction of the ANC which has relentlessly backed Zuma and suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule.
Niehaus was fired in 2021 from his job in the secretary-general’s office after the ANC accused him of making false statements and purporting to speak for the disgruntled party staff members who had not been paid. The matter over his suspension is now in the Labour Court.
His ANC membership was suspended in July 2021 due to “inflammatory” statements he made while in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, to support Zuma before his arrest. At the time he made it clear that no authority would arrest the former president and made reference to supporters creating a “human shield”.
He was among the thousands of supporters guarding Zuma’s Nkandla homestead. He warned that there would be instability and unrest in the country if the former president had to serve his 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court.
The suspension was later lifted because Niehaus was not formally charged.
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Mafela added that they would not be nominating Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term and would be open to endorsing any other candidate including Magashule.
This is despite the ANC’s electoral committee, led by Kgalema Motlhathe, announcing the official rules of engagement for the party’s national conference, which state that those who have been temporarily suspended pending the outcome of a court case or disciplinary hearing will be prohibited from participating in any contestation.
Magashule was suspended as secretary-general in May 2021 after being charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering in connection with the R255-million Free State asbestos scandal.
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“We are saying that our branch delegates must lobby to elect a leader who is going to implement the resolutions of the ANC, except Cyril Ramaphosa because the NEC led by Ramaphosa did not implement any resolutions besides step-aside. There are about five candidates – NEC members Lindiwe Sisulu, Zweli Mkhize, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and party deputy president David Mabuza,” Mafela said.
He added that the step-aside guidelines have to be scrapped because they have been manipulated to suit some members of the party.
“The ANC constitution is very much clear because it says any member can contest any position. It does not even say that if you are charged you must not be nominated and elected. When we were in Nasrec we did not say those who were charged must step aside, we said those who are also accused must step aside. There are many people who are accused, including our President. According to the original rule, the president was supposed to set aside.
“The NEC used that step-aside to fight those political battles. So, we are not agreeing with the NEC at the conference, we need to make sure that step-aside must be scrapped or changed. Even when you look at the policy conference we agree as a branch that we must change the resolution. The policy conference does not take a decision, it can recommend it to the national conference.
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During the ANC’s 110th anniversary, the Sumbandila branch caused a stir by inviting Magashule for a parallel programme, an initiative to help orphans and young people in Musina. However, it was cancelled after the party distanced itself from the event.
The ANC national conference will take place between 16 and 20 December when new leadership will be elected. Branch nominations for the top six as well as members of the NEC are under way. Nominations close on 25 October.
The nomination period was set to end on Sunday, October, but the ANC had to extend the process by more than three weeks owing to ongoing rolling blackouts, industrial action by its own staff, and flawed internal systems. DM