‘Apologise!’: Niehaus and Magashule demand apology for handshake saga

The handshakes and hugs shared between President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ace Magashule, Gwede Mantashe and Carl Niehaus caused a bit of stir on social media on Sunday.

Just moments after arriving at the late Jessie Duarte’s home on Sunday afternoon, Ramaphosa was seen embracing the suspended African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general, Ace Magashule, and sharing a brief light moment.

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This all happened when different ANC leaders visited the home of Duarte, who succumbed to cancer in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Duarte had been on medical leave since November last year.

Duarte assumed the role of acting secretary general of the ANC when Magashule was suspended last year.

In a separate moment, the ANC’s national chairman, Gwede Mantashe, was also spotted shaking hands with Niehaus.

ALSO READ:Duarte’s death won’t heal the ANC, the party is in ‘a bad space’ (citizen.co.za)

These moments also drew a lot of criticism from those supporting the so called Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction, which Niehaus and Magashule are also a part of.

Some of the RET supporters also went as far as calling Magashule and Niehaus ‘traitors’.

When asked for comment on the criticism, Niehaus described it as ‘just nonsense’.

“How do you take your fight to the house of a deceased person.

“I did not shake Cyril’s hand, but that of Gwede Mantashe when he arrived. He (Gwede) asked me how I was doing and I asked him the same,” said Niehaus.

Niehaus stressed that the moment when they exchanged pleasantries there was suddenly a bond between the different leaders.

“I really do not need to defend myself, because my uncompromising record against White Monopoly Capital (WMC) sell-outs speaks for itself.

“So how does it make comrade Magashule, and myself ‘weak’, ‘cameleons’, and even ‘traitors’ when we were simply civil, and respectively shook hands with Ramaphosa and Mantashe at the home of comrade Jessie Duarte, which is a place of bereavement,” Niehaus said.