Niehaus: Ramaphosa, Cele, Kodwa also broke lockdown regulations
Suspended member of the MK Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), Carl Niehaus, briefly appeared in the Escourt Magistrate Court on Wednesday morning.
Niehaus was arrested outside the Estcourt Correctional Facility on 8 July, on a charge that he was contravening the Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
He arrived at the jail with a group of supporters of former President Jacob Zuma, who was transported to the prison the previous night.
Niehaus has refused to pay the R3 000 fine and says he will fight the case in court.
On Wednesday morning, Niehaus told the SABC outside the Court that he will plead not guilty.
"I did not break Covid-19 regulations, I was addressing a one-on-one interview so I am clear that these charges are trumped-up charges and they intended to put fear into people to express their freedom of speech.
"I will not plead guilty to trumped-up charges, I will resist this matter and fight it in court, I believe that I had been illegally arrested and detained for a couple of hours here at the local police station."
He says it seems to him as if certain members of the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) are being targeted, while others are not.
"Two days after I was arrested Mr. Zizi Kodwa addressed a large crowd of people in Soweto. Similar meetings took place for Police Minister Bheki Cele and for President Ramaphosa. They were not arrested for breaking Covid-19 regulations. It's about the principle of equality before the law.
"I have and a number of comrades including the secretary-general of the ANC and of course, specifically President Zuma, we have been targetted, we are being harassed. I was arrested and some of us had to face suspension and for President Zuma had to face illegal imprisonment as the first political prisoner after 1994," adds Niehaus
He says the ANC cannot repress the voices of members who believe in the revolutionary principles of the party that are in the party’s Freedom Charter
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