Suspended Umkhontho we Sizwe Military Veterans Association Spokesperson Carl Niehaus says COVID-19 regulations and ANC disciplinary measures are being abused to silence him and supporters of former President Jacob Zuma.
He was addressing the media after his appearance in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on a charge of breaking COVID-19 lockdown regulations.
Niehaus was arrested outside the Estcourt prison last month where Zuma is serving a sentence of 15 months for contempt of the Constitutional Court.
VIDEO: Niehaus arrested outside Estcourt prison during an SABC News interview:
The case has been postponed to November 22.
Niehaus says he will not plead guilty to the charges against him.
“I have fought for freedom of speech and for the civil rights that we have in South Africa. I have spent 10 years in prison for those rights. I will not allow those rights to be eroded. It is my right and it is the right of every South African who wants to express their concern about the continuing political imprisonment of President Jacob Zuma to do so.”
‘Ready to die’
The Radical Economic Transformations Forces’ Nkosentsha Shezi called on people to organise peaceful demonstrations, demanding Zuma’s immediate release.
“There are two messages that you must be ready to die for if needs be. If the men in uniform decide to turn against us, we shall never surrender. We shall stand fast and we shall stand firm. We say we are carrying these two messages. The first message is that release President Jacob Zuma immediately. The second is that we want our land back immediately.”
VIDEO: Niehaus and Shezi address supporters outside the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court:
![[FILE IMAGE] President Cyril Ramaphosa with the first lady BEFORE HIS 2019 SONA speech at Parliament, Cape Town.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SABC-News_Ramaphosa-SONA_Dinilohlanga-Mekuto-120x86.png)
