The ANC has suspended controversial party member and staffer Carl Niehaus with immediate effect.

This comes after Niehaus on Tuesday released a statement defying the ANC national executive committee (NEC) decision to disband the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA).

Shortly after the NEC announced its decision to disband the MKMVA, of which Niehaus is spokesperson, he released a statement saying the NEC — the ANC’s highest decision-making body in between conferences — had been emotional and angry.

Niehaus said the move was unacceptable and the MKMVA would not accept it.

“We are an autonomous structure, and it is not legally nor politically possible for the ANC to disband the MKMVA,” he said.

Before his suspension on Wednesday, two ANC NEC members had told TimesLIVE on Tuesday night Niehaus’s statement was “the last straw” and that he was now considered a “very rogue” element.

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte wrote to Niehaus, stating that the ANC NEC had noted with concern the remarks he made outside the home of former president Jacob Zuma in Nkandla at the weekend. She said the ANC had concluded that he had brought the party into disrepute.

Niehaus, a staunch Zuma supporter, threatened violence in defence of Zuma at the weekend. This as Zuma’s arrest loomed after the Constitutional Court sentenced him to 15 months behind bars for contempt.