OUTRAGE AT THE CONTINUING PERSECUTION OF CDE. CARL NIEHAUS, PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA, CDE. ACE MAGASHULE AND MANY OF OUR LEADERS

Date: Saturday, 12 February 2022

On the afternoon of the 8th of July 2021 comrade Carl Niehaus was abruptly arrested live on television while doing an interview with SABC TV in front of Estcourt Prison. Comrade Carl went to Estcourt prison after President Jacob Zuma handed himself over to the Department of Correctional Services the evening before to serve a 1 5 m o n t h p r i s o n s e n t e n c e t h a t t h e Constitutional Court illegally imposed on him.

The evening before comrade Carl was at the Nkandla residence of President Zuma, and his last words to President Zuma, when he got into the car to drive to Estcourt Prison, was that he would come to Estcourt prison the next day to show solidarity with him, and to try and visit him.

This promise Carl Niehaus kept with dedication and loyalty, similar to the way that he has been attending all President Zuma’s court appearances over the past more than 22 years. Comrade Carl’s four decades long political career has always been the personification of principled loyalty and singular dedication to his commitment for the full liberation of all black (with specific emphasis on African) South Africans. He lives by the motto that: ONE SOLDIER DOES NOT LEAVE ANOTHER SOLDIER BEHIND ON THE BATTLEFIELD.

When one listens to the SABC TV interview of comrade Carl his condemnation of what he consistently called the illegal imprisonment of President Zuma is principled and well articulated in hard facts. He furthermore insisted on the constitutional right to freedom of speech for all South Africans to express their opposition and outrage about the imprisonment of President Zuma. Throughout that interview, until it was so abruptly interrupted by his arrest, he committed himself to peaceful protest, and to act within the confines of the law.

It is evident that comrade Carl had not committed any crime whatsoever through his presence at Estcourt Prison on the afternoon of the 8th of July 2021. His arrest was a blatant act of intimidation by South African Police Service officers who were directly instructed to arrest him by the Minister of Police, Mr. Bheki Cele. This was nothing else but a blatant act of illegal interference by a senior ANC politician abusing his authority as Minister of Police to carry out an act of factionally driven political victimization and intimidation.

In short: Cele watched the SABC TV interview, and did not like what he saw comrade Carl saying in the interview in-front of Estcourt Prison. Thus, he made a direct phone call and instructed for comrade Carl to be arrested immediately there and then. It was as blatant and abusive as that!

This is the kind of abuse that we have seen increasingly of State Law Enforcement Agencies that are manipulated to settle factional political scores.

There is a long list of specifically targeted ANC leaders, the most prominent among them President Jacob Zuma, the Secretary General of the ANC, comrade Ace Magashule, the President of the ANC Women’s League, comrade Bathabile Dlamini, comrade Zandile Gumede, ANC NEC member comrade Bongani Bongo, comrade Sphithiphithi Evaluator, and comrade Themba Mnisi, to mention only a few, who are selectively targeted with farcical and trumped-up charges, while other ANC politicians who are known to be close to President Cyril Ramaphosa, and who have very serious allegations and official findings against them (some even by Chapter 9 Institutions such as the Public Protector) are not investigated, and no action is taken against them.

The list of those politically protected persons is long, starting with President Cyril Ramaphosa himself and his son Andile, and among others also include that blatant abuser of the police for factional political purposes himself, Minister Bheki Cele. To mention only a few more, there are Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Gwede Mantashe, Ocar Mabuyani, Thabang Makwetla, Zizi Kodwa and Fikile Mbalula. This is by no means an exhaustive list. It is glaringly obvious that Lady Justice’s blindfold had been removed, and that ‘justice’ now has eyes. The fact of the matter is that selective justice is not justice at all, it is injustice and abuse.

Under these circumstances it is evident that the arrest of comrade Carl Niehaus, and the farcical trumped-up COVID-19 charges that he has to face this coming Monday, are nothing else but abuse of State Law Enforcement Agencies and lawfare. It is a glaring manifestation that our judiciary has been captured.

The abuse of COVID-19 regulations to charge comrade Niehaus simply confirms what we have been warning about all along, namely that the COVID-19 regulations and imposed State of Emergency have become repressive tools in the hands of politicians who abuse such to repress legitimate expressions of freedom of speech, and to overall intimidate and bludgeon our nation into submission. These are the awful manifestations of a rising dictatorship.