Niehaus heads to court to shed ‘Toy soldier’ image

Disbanded Mkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association former spokesperson Carl Niehaus claims he has finalised a combined summons against retired chairperson of DMV military veterans data base verification committee Major General Enoch Mashoala for Defamation.

Niehaus came under the spotlight after he apparently failed a military veterans’ verification test in the Eastern Cape by former military generals from liberation movements who were verifying former combatants listed in the Department of Military Veterans database.

During the verification process, it emerged that Niehaus was apparently never really trained as a freedom fighter in the African National Congress’ (ANC) Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) military wing, despite having served time as a political prisoner.

The veterans verification panel chaired by Mashoala confirmed to The Citizen that Niehaus had indeed failed the verification test in Eastern Cape.

However, Niehaus stuck to his guns providing a lengthy monotonous drivel of alleged abuse and the difficult process he undertook to establish his bona fides for inclusion in the Military Veterans Database.

The ‘toy soldier’ said he had filed an official complaint to Defence Minister and Military Veterans Thandi Modise and the Deputy Defence Minister and Military Veterans, Thabang Makwetla about the unprofessional manner in which interviews of military veterans of MK were conducted by the Database Verification Committee.

Niehaus also denied that he was not trained as a freedom fighter in the MK and also had the backing of Advocate Dali Mpofu.

Mpofu tweeted: “My law firm represented @niehaus_carl in the 80s as a political prisoner who had operated in the ANC [and] Umkhonto Wesizwe underground like many of us.

In a tweet on Friday, Niehaus hit back at Mashoala.

“I just finalized the combined summons in a very substantial defamation claim against Major General Mashoala for defamatory statements that he made questioning my MK Veteran credentials. I’ll pursue him relentlessly! On Monday, once the summons have been served  I’ll make it public.”

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