Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 17-05-2019
The Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans says an attack on the office of the secretary general of African National Congress (ANC) is an attack on the entire party.
A public spat between ANC heavyweights Fikile Mbalula and party secretary-general Ace Magashule turned nasty on twitter.
The social media war escalated when Mbalula attacked Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans spokesperson Carl Niehaus on Twitter, calling him a coward.
Niehaus took to Twitter to accusing Mbalula of lacking respect for his seniors in what appeared to be a defence of Magashule.
Speaking to Radio Islam on Friday, Niehaus says the attack on the secretary general’s office of the ANC and on him was done in a very personal way.
“Comrade Mbalula than decided to turn this into a rather personal attack on me, which I’ve tried to avoid. I didn’t go back and attack him for some quite serious matter that has been brought against him by the Public Protector with regards to a trip to Dubai that was funded by a service provider.”
Niehaus also says they don’t dispute that President Cyril Ramaphosa as leader of the ANC and face of the party’s election campaign made an important contribution to the victory in the elections.
“What comrade Mbalula did was to emphasize that only component to say it was solely because of the role of President Ramaphosa that the ANC managed to win in this election. The only thing that comrade Magashule did was to rebalance the issue and to say ‘yes the president played an important role, but let us not undermine the role of the collective membership and leadership of the ANC in registering this victory.’”
Niehaus says the ANC should not over celebrate the victory in the 2019 General Elections, as it was the worst performance of the ANC since 1994.
Listen to the interview with Carl Niehaus
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