JOHANNESBURG: The ANC on Thursday confirmed that it has dismissed Carl Niehaus as an employee and will only entertain the spokesperson of the now-disbanded MKMVA in the presence of his lawyers.
“If comrade Niehaus wants to meet with the ANC, he will have to do that through his legal team,” ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe told IOL on Thursday evening.
“Where we are now, he is dismissed as an employee of the ANC. If he wants to appeal this, he can exercise the normal route. If the ANC does not take action against descent, it will lose the respect of society.”
The ruling party’s spat with Niehaus has escalated after the party indicated that its relationship with him has irrevocably broken down.
Niehaus now has until midday on Friday, September 10, to fetch his belongings from the party’s headquarters at Luthuli House and seven days to explain why his dismissal as a member of the ANC should not be upheld.
“In your written representations, you have not provided any cogent reasons for the ANC to arrive at any conclusion other than that the employment relationship between you and the organisation has completely irrevocably broken down,” the party said in a statement on Thursday.
The ANC’s angst comes after Niehaus issued a media statement on Wednesday detailing that he intended to formally lay criminal charges of “theft, fraud, corruption, and various statutory crimes” against the national office bearers of the party at the Johannesburg Central police station.
In the statement, Niehaus stated that he was representing a few of the aggrieved ANC employees, who he said have lost their patience with the recurring non-payment of salaries and the “general abuse of ANC staff” due to alleged criminal conduct by senior ANC members.
The ANC fired back with national spokesperson Pule Mabe stating that: “The ANC noted with dismay, the ongoing divisive, opportunistic and anti-ANC behaviour by Niehaus.”
Mabe said the latest was Niehaus’s personal statement purported to be made on behalf of ANC staff.
Mabe further highlighted: “We find the behaviour of Niehaus who appears more on public and social media platforms to be divisive, opportunistic and devoid of revolutionary discipline. Coincidentally, Niehaus has elected to apply the tactics of one desperate opposition party lacking a clear programme for the upcoming local government elections and pinning their hopes on a liquidated ANC.”
Niehaus then responded by drafting a letter to ANC general manager Febe Potgieter saying he viewed the party’s statement as an attack on him.
“The threat to terminate my employment with the ANC without further notice, and without a disciplinary hearing, is illegal. The short notice of a mere two and a half hours to provide reasons why I should not be dismissed is draconian and unreasonable,” he said.
He has yet to respond to requests for comment on his dismissal.
Political Bureau