MKMVA spokesperson Carl Niehaus started yet another Twitter war with Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula. Picture: Gallo Images/Sunday Times/Jackie Clausen
The spokesperson of the disbanded uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA), Carl Niehaus, and Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula are at each other’s throats again.
The two ANC veterans have been taking shots at each other on social media for months.
The latest Twitter war was started on Tuesday when Niehaus asked Mbalula to explain a report about a luxury house he initially offered to buy, but which was subsequently purchased by a company linked to the suspended National Lotteries Commission chief operating officer Phillemon Letwaba.
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Mbalula responded to that by calling Niehaus a “renowned world-class fraudster”.
He then brought up the time Niehaus falsely claimed his mother was dead. He compared Niehaus to Rosemary Ndlovu, the former police officer who killed her family members so that she could cash in on insurance and funeral policy payouts.
In 2017, Niehaus claimed his mother was dead to get out of paying a R4.3 million debt. He told his former landlord that the inheritance from his “dead” mother would enable him to settle the debt. Family members later revealed his mother, Magrietha Niehaus, was alive.
Niehaus responded by dredging up accusations that Mbalula’s wife had irregularly benefited from state funeral tenders.
Mbalula then called Niehaus an umgodoyi, which means mongrel in English. He also tweeted: “Be careful of imigodoyi masquerading as revolutionaries in a sheep skin.”
Still triggered, Mbalula continued the senseless Twitter feud on Wednesday morning, saying that the ANC’s renewal was not possible if Niehaus was still involved with the party.
Niehaus then cited the mess at Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and Metrorail, labelling Mbalula a “clueless minister”.
On Sunday, Niehaus tweeted that he told the ANC that appointing Fikile Mbalula as its head of elections would “end in tears”. He also called Mbalula a “clown” and “blower of hot air”.
This came after the transport minister was named Mampara of the Week by the Sunday Times.