Jessie Duarte’s brother: We should have chased ‘attention seeking’ Niehaus out of the house

Late ANC deputy secretary Jessie Duarte’s family has slammed Carl Niehaus and suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule for their comments following her death.

Niehaus paid tribute to Duarte in a opinion piece published by IOL and while he honoured her, he also criticised her decisions.

He accused her of betraying his comrades, actions that he said cannot be overlooked when considering her legacy.

“It also does not help to beat around the bush; in the last part of her life Jessie betrayed many of her closest comrades, and it is true that such betrayal by a fellow comrade always inflicts the deepest, most painful, and longest lasting wounds,” Niehaus said.

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Niehaus paid his last respects at Duarte’s house but her brother Zane Dangor regrets not chasing him away.

“There are so many messages I have written and deleted directed at Carl. He was a smug and unwelcome voyeur at the house when we were grieving. We did not want to make a scene by putting him out. But we should have.

“He did not see Jessie who was shrouded in cloth, yet in the many bulls**t words he used in his article he describes an ‘emaciated’ body. Just another lie from Carl and as Anna Majavu says, why on earth does he get so much media attention. Thanks again Bram Hanekom for this response, as I was about to lose all decorum with this attention seeking charlatan,” wrote Dangor on Facebook.

“Thank you and well said! Carl Niehaus and counterparts is disrespectful and inhumane. My mother (and family) did not deserve the level of disrespect that was shown on the day of her funeral and throughout this week,” added her daughter Zoe D Whitley.

Magashule’s claim about secrets

Magashule also rubbed the family up the wrong way after claiming Duarte had shared many secrets with him about the party.

He also claimed Duarte wanted the secrets shared with him to be made public.

“She shared many secrets with me and have requested that some of the secrets should be public. On Thursday last week she told her PA that once she gets out of the ICU, we must make sure that I should be one of the first people to see her. Unfortunately she passed on. As I say, maybe in the coming weeks we can … because she wanted that when she’s no more, some of the things she said about the movement, she wanted them to come out,” said Magashule.

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But Duarte’s family pleaded with her comrades to refrain from using her death to push their own agenda.

“This is very difficult as well, as you are her family as well, we ask that there are some sections to respect her legacy and family by not using her to advance your agenda. There’s been media, widely published, about Jessie divulging secrets. We all know if Jessie wanted to say something she would have said it upfront… People may want to use this opportunity to besmirch her name and use her to advance their own agendas, we ask that please, we implore that you stop. For your sake and for our family’s sake,” her brother Abbas Dangor said at her memorial service.

Duarte passed away last Sunday after battling pancreatic cancer.