As Carl Niehaus recovering from Covd-19 he has been suspended from his post in African National Congress’s (ANC) secretary-general Ace Magashule’s office.
Niehaus is due to face a disciplinary hearing into his alleged breach of the party’s personnel policies.
ANC general manager Febe Potgieter-Gqubule in a notice to Niehaus dated 19 January 2021, said that Niehaus had been advised on numerous occasions that his public comments and social media posts “are unbecoming of someone working in this high office, which has the primary responsibility of driving and coordinating the work of all structures of the ANC”.
Specifically were recent comments on ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte. On Twitter Niehaus posted that he had been hospitalised due to Covid-19, which he said he wanted to deal with privately. He claimed “WMC media” targeted him while he was “fighting for my life” with a “well-coordinated aggressive propaganda smear campaign”.
“I am saddened that even the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC, comrade Jessie Duarte, saw it fit to attack me and undermine my long history as a 42 year veteran of the ANC in good standing, as well as my elected position as an NEC member of MKMVA and MKMVA national spokesperson,”
“This she did, knowing that when she was doing so, I was gravely ill. It was unnecessary and callous – I am deeply saddened by it.”
Niehaus was responding Duarte’s comments on JJ Tabane’s Power to Truth on eNCA. Tabane asked whether conflicting comments from ANC members such as Niehaus were deepening party divisions.
“I’m not going to comment on Carl Niehaus. I’m not going to comment on Kebby Maphatsoe because I think firstly I would say that in the case of Carl Niehaus, he’s not a top leader of the ANC,” she continued.