Niehaus claims Ramaphosa rented a ‘crowd of thugs’ and paid them in food to ‘attack’ him

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “rent-a-crowd of thugs” were sent to attack him, suspended uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veteran’s Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus claims.

He alleges these thugs “were rewarded with food”.

Ramaphosa protest

Niehaus was picketing outside the National Exhibition Centre (Nasrec) in Johannesburg on Monday over the Phala Phala saga.

Ramaphosa has come under fire for a burglary at his game farm in February 2020, after the Section 89 independent panel report found he had a case to answer to.

Niehaus has been holding lone protests against the president as the ANC national executive committee (NEC) met to deliberate on Ramaphosa’s political future.

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Niehaus attack

Niehaus claims he was picketing peacefully when he was allegedly attacked.

“Ramaphosa’s rent a crowd of thugs sent to attack me were rewarded McDonald’s burgers and KFC. It didn’t help them; I still stood my ground against the stomachists.”

“They pushed me around, they insulted me; I’ve been pushed in the ribs. I could’ve laid charges of assault because they are not allowing freedom of speech,” Niehaus said.

Ramaphosa’s presidency

Niehaus said his protest against Ramaphosa started almost one year ago.

“It related to all the wrongs which started with the way in which he became president of the African National Congress through the buying of votes right here at Nasrec in 2017.”

Last month, former President Jacob Zuma also hit out at Ramaphosa saying his leadership is illegitimate as it was attained through the use of money, bypassing the democratic nature of the national conference.

“There were clear allegations made that Cyril Ramaphosa who was contesting the presidency used a lot of money to buy his position as president of the ANC. But when this allegation was made, the Fica was put at around a billion rand.”

Zuma said the ANC has not scrutinised the issues surrounding the president.

“The reality we have is a president who was not elected properly through the democratic process, but had used money to buy people to support him or vote for him,” Zuma said.

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