Message from comrade Carl Niehaus in support of the anti-lockdown freedom march to the Union Buildings scheduled for Monday 30 August 2021
26 August 2021
My sincere apology that I am not able to attend this media conference because of other urgent commitments. If it was at all possible I would have definitely joined you today. However, I will most certainly be present, and participate, on Monday the 30th of August, in the march to the Union Buildings.
I am one of those liberation soldiers, who as a member of the ANC, and of the armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), dedicated my life to the liberation of the people of South Africa against the evil of apartheid. I fought with dedication for the right to Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association, and all our other Civil Liberties as contained in the Bill of Rights and Constitution. I joined the ANC when I was 19 years old, I spent close to ten years of my life in jail for those ideals. I have never wavered in my commitment to the full liberation of our people.
I am deeply concerned about the manner in which the COVID-19 protocols are being abused to repress freedom of speech and our hard fought for civil liberties. President Ramaphosa said that no citizen will be forced to vaccinate, but now we hear that there will be pressure and negative sanctions against those who choose not to vaccinate. Such contradictory behavior is the conduct of an unprincipled and untrustworthy government. Evidently their promises are not worth the paper that it is written on. In doing so they undermine the integrity of the COVID-19 protocols, and abuse them for repressive political purposes.
I have exercised my freedom of choice, and decided not to take the vaccine. I will resist with every fiber in my body any attempt to negatively sanction me for having done. it is my civil right to choose not to be vaccinated, and it is the right of every other citizen citizen to similarly choose not to be vaccinated.