‘ANC is dead and buried — all that’s left is to erect the tombstone’: Niehaus

Recently expelled ANC member Carl Niehaus, who subsequently resigned from the ruling party, said calls for him to reconsider his decision and reverse his resignation are “overwhelming” and the “agony” with which he took the decision is “indescribable”.

“The crux of all the arguments of those who urged me to reconsider my decision to finally not proceed with the appeal against my expulsion, and to resign from the ANC, is that the ANC can still be changed, and revert again back to being the leader of the liberation ideals of the majority of black and especially African South Africans, and can still again become the vehicle for full liberation, especially economic liberation, from white monopoly capitalism,” Niehaus said in a lengthy open letter.

However, Niehaus said he did not believe that was possible.

“What I am arguing, with deep sadness — certainly not with any joy or triumphalism — is that the erstwhile ANC that we have joined with so many ideals and high hopes no longer exists. If there was any doubt about this, the disastrous outcomes of the 55th national conference unequivocally confirmed that.

“As I have said, the ANC is now finally dead and buried, and all that remains is to erect the tombstone,” he said.

The former spokesperson for the disbanded Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Military Veterans Association referenced allegations of vote-buying and not constituting branch general meetings (BGMs) properly.

This is after an ANC member from ward 30 in eThekwini, Thabani Mdletshe, allegedly accused President Cyril Ramaphosa, national chair Gwede Mantashe and former campaign manager Bejani Chauke of buying votes.

According to a SABC report, Mdletshe wrote a scathing letter to ANC electoral chairperson Kgalema Motlanthe, accusing the incumbent leadership of buying votes at the conference at Nasrec.

In an open letter penned by Niehaus, he continued to add that these allegations were  “something which Gwede Mantashe acknowledged, in a recent live eNCA interview. Yet the persistent silence of the electoral commission about these extremely serious admissions, screams to the heavens! It only underlines, and confirms, the point I am making about the total rot and destruction of the ANC.

“Can they please confirm to me how many BGMs were actually genuinely constituted and correctly convened and run in terms of the ANC constitution and rules? Are most of the ANC branches actually alive and active, or were they simply convened for purposes of nominating candidates and electing delegates to the national conference?” he asked.

Niehaus alleged that the act of members being paid and bribed to nominate certain people as candidates and as delegates was “rife in almost every branch”.

“Did many of you, who share the same liberation ideals, not argue with me and criticise me for having insisted that the only proper position that we had to take was to totally oppose the use of money, and the paying of bribes, as a matter of unwavering principle? Remember the nonsensical approach that some of you took, calling on branch members to take the money, but then 'to do the right thing'.”

The former party spokesperson alleges he too was a victim of demands for money in exchange for branch nominations.

“One particular conversation with a prominent ANC Youth League leader in Ekurhuleni is engraved in my mind. He called on the last weekend before the deadline for BGMs and demanded a substantial amount of money to ensure that my name will be put forward by branches as a candidate for the ANC NEC.

“When I refused, he became abusive and swore at me, saying that I am an 'idiot' and that he will go out of his way to de–campaign me and make sure that I am not nominated.”

Addressing members who propose that the answer is for Niehaus to go back and 'work with the branches' and ANC structures, he questioned how they suggested he do this, with the rot having gone 'this deep and far'.

Niehaus criticised the ANC's “step aside” resolution, calling it “farcical and illegally rewritten”. He slammed the party for “not raising it properly in the policy conference and subsequently even in the national conference — and failing to make it a 'make-or-break issue', despite all the dramatic and bravado–like promises beforehand to do so”.

There were not enough comrades who had the guts or backbone to challenge it and push the matter, he said. “Instead, most among us were more interested in keeping our options open, and making sure that we will not be targeted and victimised. Fear and self-preservation were the prevailing currencies/emotions, not conviction and courage.”

Niehaus also criticised the “pathetic, jellyfish–like performance” of ANC MPs who apparently “with so much empty bravado were telling [him] in the days before the National Assembly vote about the report of the independent panel that they were going to vote in favour of the report. 

“However, when the time came to show their mettle, they cared more about their jobs and salaries, and one after the other — stiff with fear — squeaked out pathetic 'no’s'. I was truly to puke from [sic]!”

The report, if adopted, sought to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the theft of dollars from his Phala Phala farm.

“The original saying is that the definition of idiocy is to keep on hitting one’s head against the same brick wall, but I am refraining from stating it as bluntly as that, because I share the deep emotional love of my fellow comrades for the original ANC that we have joined because of our liberation ideals,” he said.

As a result, Niehaus said he had to come to a “reluctant, sad conclusion” that they did not have the soldiers to fight such a war. “Instead, we have 'stomachists', and cowards, who were never prepared to fight the war and make the sacrifices that were required. Thus we never even truly got out of the starting blocks to start the war, and consequently the ANC was finally buried last week at the 55th national conference.”

Niehaus lambasted the party's ability to “self-correct and regain its revolutionary heart”, calling it “woefully absent”.

“The cowardice and lack of backbone among many of those who claim to be opposed to Ramaphosa, and who say that they are in favour of radical economic transformation, which is still actually supposed to be the official economic policy programme of the ANC, is an utter disgrace and shame.”

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