EFF member Niehaus reopens defamation lawsuit against Mbalula
EFF member Carl Niehaus has reactivated his R10 million defamation lawsuit against ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member Carl Niehaus has reactivated his R10 million defamation lawsuit against ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula over his comments about the 2021 July unrest.
Niehaus, who sits at number 27 on the EFF’s parliament list, says he’s instructed his lawyers to go “full steam ahead, leaving no stone unturned” with his long-standing lawsuit against Mbalula.
I have a special message for @MbalulaFikile, after yesterday’s Electoral Court judgement … Dinge gaan net nog kakker gaan vir hom!
— Carl Niehaus (@niehaus_carl) March 27, 2024
Yesterday, I instructed my attorneys to go full steam ahead with my longstanding R 10 million defamation lawsuit against him. I am coming for you,… pic.twitter.com/4BblWGE7WB
THE INSTIGATOR OF THE 2021 JULY UNREST – MBALULA
During the 2021 July unrest, Mbalula accused Niehaus of being an instigator of the violence that erupted across the country, specifically in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Mbalula, Minister of Transport then, refused to pay the amount when Niehaus’ lawyers first demanded damages.
“I have a special message for @MbalulaFikile, after yesterday’s Electoral Court judgment… Dinge gaan net nog kakker gaan vir hom! Yesterday, I instructed my attorneys to go full steam ahead with my long-standing R10 million defamation lawsuit against him. I am coming for you and not leaving a stone unturned!” Niehaus said on X.
Niehaus’ decision to reactivate the case comes after the ANC lost its bid to declare former president Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party unlawful, invalid, and unconstitutional.
MBALULA’S INTERVIEW WITH BBC THAT GOT HIM INTO HOT WATER
In an interview with the BBC’s HardTalk television programme, Mbalula said that one of the known instigators of the unrest the government had red-taped as “failed insurrection” was the former ANC employee, Niehaus.
“There are those we know at a political level are Carl Niehaus and others around him,” Mbalula said at the time.
Watch Mbalula’s interview with the BBC below.
South Africa’s Transport Minister @MbalulaFikile says delayed response to recent violence in the country gave plotters “a field day”
— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) July 21, 2021
“But for all the days they had, the plotters, they couldn't achieve that result” pic.twitter.com/ZcmSFWkzuQ
NIEHAUS DISBANDS HIS ARETA POLITICAL PARTY TO JOIN EFF
Niehaus joined the red berets in December last year after dumping his party the African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance (Areta), which he founded after he left the ANC,
The EFF has 44 seats in the National Assembly, which makes his chances of going to Parliament very good.
Known as a staunch Zuma supporter during his days in the ANC, Niehaus grew up in Zeerust, North West Province, and completed his higher education at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU).
NIEHAUS POLITICAL HISTORY AND LIFE AS STUDENT ACTIVIST
According to South African History Online, he was months away from his final exams in 1980 when he was expelled from RAU for putting up campus posters that supported Nelson Mandela’s release form prison.
Having worked underground for the ANC since 1980, Niehaus was arrested along with his fiancÁƒÂƒ©e Johanna (Jansie) Lourens in 1983. Both were convicted of treason, and on 24 November, Niehaus was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
After his release from prison in 1991, Niehaus became the ANC spokesperson and held numerous other positions, such as chairman of the Transformation Forum on Correctional Service.
ALSO READ: Joburg to Cape Town: Is it cheaper to fly or drive?