Zuma ally Niehaus registers a political party

The African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance (Areta), whose prominent members include former uMkhonto we Sizwe military veterans spokesperson Carl Niehaus, is in the process of registering as a political party.

Following his expulsion from the ANC earlier this year, Niehaus established an organisation called the Radical Economic Transformation (Ret) Movement, which at the time he said was not a political party.

After consultations with ‘like-minded’ individuals, Niehaus then announced that the Ret Movement was being renamed Areta, which ‘could become a political party’.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Niehaus said Areta was on the verge of being registered as a political party.

“The African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance is, in accordance with the mandate given by our members and supporters, registering as a political party. Areta is registering as a national political party to contest elections nationally, and in all the nine provinces [of] South Africa.”

Niehaus, who is the Areta’s chairperson, along with other members of the organisation’s leadership, were at the Independent Electoral Commission’s Centurion offices yesterday to finalise the registration process.

“The Areta application will comply fully with all the requirements of the Electoral Commission Act of 1996, including the full payment that is required for registration,” he said.

A staunch supporter of former president Jacob Zuma, Niehaus resigned from the ANC after the party’s disciplinary committee had recommended that he should be expelled from the party for, among other things, bringing the governing ANC into disrepute.

Some of the charges against Niehaus stemmed from the media statements he made outside Zuma’s Nkandla homestead shortly before the former president’s 2021 arrest for defying a Constitutional Court order to appear before the Zondo Commission.

Some of statements that angered ANC leaders at the time include Niehaus stating ‘our comrades of MKMVA [Mkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association] will form a human shield to protect president Zuma’ and ‘we don’t want president Zuma to go to jail’.