Niehaus says ANC broke 'every part' of SA's labour laws to sack him

Former Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus says the ANC broke every part of SA's labour laws to have him sacked.

The party fired Niehaus on Thursday after he stated publicly that he was going to open criminal charges against the party leadership over its handling of the salaries of staff.

The ANC has failed to pay its staff for several months and it has emerged that the party also owes the taxman for monies it deducted from its employees but failed to pay over.

ANC staff had resorted to protesting outside its offices leading to the party leadership pleading for donations through crowdfunding.

Speaking to TimesLIVE on Friday, Niehaus vowed to appeal against his sacking. 

Niehaus is a staunch supporter of former president Jacob Zuma and suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. He had been employed in Magashule's office at the party's Luthuli House headquarters.

Early this year, when the party embarked on a process to have Magashule suspended, Niehaus found himself at loggerheads with ANC management for his utterances, including his involvement in the grouping called the “RET forces”, which mainly shows up in support of both Zuma and Mgashule at their corruption court cases.

“[My lawyers] absolutely feel confident that I have got a strong case and the ANC has broken every part of the labour legislation in this country,” said Niehaus.

He slammed the party for saying he should collect his belongings at its head office in Johannesburg on Friday.

“I am not going to play into the narrative of people who want me to come and walk with boxes out of Luthuli House. The ANC knows my address if they have something that they want to send to me, they can do so. Alternatively, they can store it, because I am going to appeal against this firing. 

“If they do store this stuff I just hope that they store it in a safe place in the storeroom, not in the storeroom that was flooded with the documents that president [Jacob Zuma] wanted,” said Niehaus.

He was referring to documents requested by Zuma from the ANC which he wanted to use in his defence for his arms deal corruption case. The party had, however, failed to produce the documents saying all its documents predating 2005 had either been damaged or destroyed as a result of flooding in a building where they were archived.

Niehaus said his sacking was illegal. 

“I was not given a hearing, I was given an unfair period of time to respond. I was immediately fired after I responded. I am clear that that labour law was broken. I will proceed to appeal against this matter,” he said.

He said he would first appeal against his sacking in the ANC within seven days but would also approach the CCMA or the courts if he is not happy with the outcomes.

TimesLIVE