Africa-Press – South-Africa. Expelled ANC member Carl Niehaus has announced his “resignation” from the party following the conclusion of the party’s national elective conference this week, where his nemesis President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected as party president.
Niehaus, a staunch supporter of corruption-accused former president Jacob Zuma and corruption-accused former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, announced on Thursday that his uninterrupted membership of the party for the past 43 years was coming to an end with immediate effect.
Earlier this month, the former uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association spokesperson was expelled from the party after the ANC’s national disciplinary committee (NDC) found him guilty of six charges of misconduct.
The charges are in connection with comments Niehaus made in July outside Zuma’s residence in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal, where he protested against Zuma’s incarceration for being in contempt of the Constitutional Court, and made disparaging remarks about the judiciary.
In his tweeted statement on his “resignation”, Niehaus stated: “I know there are those who will continue with their cheap Stratcom political propaganda, attempting to undermine the gravitas and importance of this decision, by trying to argue that I cannot resign from an organisation I have already been ‘expelled’ from.”
Niehaus argued that when he appealed against his expulsion, he was still an ANC member, until his “resignation”.
He said it would be “illogical” to proceed with his appeal against his expulsion.
Niehaus has been a fervent campaigner against Ramaphosa’s leadership of the party.
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.
He was fired last year as an ANC staffer.
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