Johannesburg – ANC member and former Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus has written an urgent letter of complaint of Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise.
Modise's spokesperson, Cornelius Monama, said "at this stage, I don't know if she received the letter".
The letter, seen by IOL, was also shared with Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thabang Makwetla, director-general of the Department of Military Veterans Irene Mpolweni, MK unity conference preparatory committee member responsible for verification, Nzwaki Sigxashe and, Masechaba Motloung, representing MKMVA with regards to database verification.
Niehaus calls for the chairperson of DMV military veterans dataBase verification committee, Major-General Enoch Mashoala. to be removed for alleged political targeting.
However, Mashoala rejected the claims, saying that there was no politicking but a 360 system for capturing and verifying applicants.
There is an upcoming MK Veterans unity conference set to be held from 24 March to 27 March 2022.
On Monday, Niehaus appeared before the database verification, cleansing and enhancement work stream (DVCE_WS) to establish his bona fides for inclusion in the Military Veterans database.
“ I specifically travelled to East London, in the Eastern Cape, for the meeting. This I did at my expense. My appearance took place at the Buffalo Volunteer Rifle Military Base,” he said.
Niehaus added that on his arrival at the Buffalo Volunteer Rifle Military Base he found several other applicants, most of them being military veterans of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), waiting to be interviewed.
He said they were placed in a hall where a young officer addressed them in a "very condescending manner".
He said the procedures began almost an hour late. As far as his interview with Mashoala was concerned, he was deeply aggrieved by the manner in which Mashoala conducted the interview, claiming that he was aggressive towards him.
Mashoala said the 360 degrees system can be rewinded and one can watch the video of the interview.
“I asked the reason for Niehaus for coming, he said he was here to establish his bona fides for inclusion in the Military Veterans database. I asked who recruited him to the MK, he said he was recruited by Billy Masetlha in 1979 in Botswana.
“He then asked if I was questioning his integrity. I asked how long his training was. He came with a washy washy story.
“I told Niehaus that he has never been trained to conduct clandestine operations. He saw that I was putting him in the corner he then said I was shouting at him. I told him that is how I speak. The panel asked him to answer the questions,” said Mashoala.
He then went through Niehaus's file.
“According to the file it said he’s been to Angola. I asked how he got to Angola and he replied that he travelled through the south with ASCC. To me that did not make sense. It was tight for a political activist to go through the south in 1979 in Angola there was a conventional war.
“His file also said he went to Zimbabwe. I asked who received him but Niehaus said he forgot. In 1979 Zimbabwe was not free,” Mashoala said.
He said he told Niehaus that MK was a military formation where people lived by order, and Niehaus could not tell who made the order.
Mashoala said they asked for Niehaus's prison number and it was verified.
“We informed him that he will be included in the database as an ex-political prisoner but not as MK because he is not MK. That was it, we shook hands after the interview. There was no animosity between us.
“it is untrue that I interrogated and was aggressive with him. He is trying to politicise this. Niehaus is not an MK and the conference is for the community of MK. Niehaus is not welcome to attend,” Mashoala said.
Niehaus said he would attend the conference. “The whole intention of this pathetic propaganda nonsense is to keep me away from the MK conference. I will not budge, I will attend,” Niehaus said.
ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za
Political Bureau