EFF’s Carl Niehaus Hits Out at MK MP After Manifesto Comment

Mzwanele Manyi just threw a match into the social media fire, and Carl Niehaus was quick to grab it. The MK Party MP posted what he thinks about voters and party manifestos, and the replies came in hot. “In my whole life in the political space, I have NEVER seen anyone studying a Political Party Manifesto to make a decision on how to vote,” Manyi wrote. Translation: in his years around politics, he has never once watched a voter sit down with a manifesto before picking a party.

Niehaus did not let that slide. The EFF MP fired back with a post that got everyone talking: “Dear @MzwaneleManyi, Thank you for so succinctly demonstrating—with a single stupid sentence—why I could never join you shallow clowns,” Niehaus replied. Ouch. What started as a debate about paperwork quickly turned into a full-blown insult battle, and the timeline is still buzzing.

Here is the thing, though. Manyi was only sharing what he has seen with his own eyes. He did not run a survey or pull any numbers, so his post cannot tell us how the average South African makes up their mind. Niehaus also skipped the explaining part. He shot down Manyi’s view without saying what he believes voters actually do with those manifestos. So both sides walked away with a lot of noise and not much proof.

Timing matters too. South Africa’s local government elections are set for November 4, 2026, and parties are gearing up now. Manifestos are the official way parties lay out their plans on local services, jobs, and service delivery, and campaigns usually lean on them to win over voters. Whether people actually read them is a different question, and one that matters a lot to communities waiting on water, roads, and clinics.

Still, the wider lesson is hard to ignore. Political fights online are getting more personal by the day, and insults often grab more attention than policy ideas ever do. Voters are the ones left scrolling through the mess, trying to figure out who really has a plan for their neighbourhood.

So here is the question for you: when you are choosing who gets your vote, do you actually read the manifesto, or do you go by what you see from the candidates on social media? Drop your honest answer below and tell us who you think really gets through to voters.

Source: https://x.com/niehaus_carl/status/2113592719591276607?s=46