Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile had previously warned the African National Congress (ANC) leadership about its former spokesperson, Carl Niehaus, he said on Wednesday.
”I informed the [ANC] secretary general [Gwede Mantashe] last year that this is the kind of person you are employing,” Mashatile told reporters at the Gauteng legislature.
He added that by this time Niehaus had already been hired by the ANC.
ANC spokesperson Jesse Duarte confirmed this, saying Mantashe had been warned ”there were behavioural problems at [Gauteng Economic Development Agency (Geda)] that weren’t professional”.
She said that this message from Mashatile resulted in a meeting between Carl Niehaus, Mantashe and ANC national executive committee member Pallo Jordan.
”[They] talked about his behavioural problems related to debt,” said Duarte.
She added that the leadership was concerned that there could be ”repercussions” regarding his personal debt.
Claims against Niehaus have been rolling in since the Mail & Guardian reported on Friday on his alleged fraud and lies to maintain an expensive lifestyle, which plunged him deep indebt.
The M&G reported that Niehaus allegedly forged the signatures of senior Gauteng officials, including Mashatile, while he was at the helm of Geda.
The report said the letter with forged the signatures was an attempt to secure a loan from a businessman who had wanted favourable conditions related to Johannesburg property deals.
But Niehaus said that ”within hours” of writing the letter he contacted Mashatile, who was then Gauteng finance minister.
But Mashatile on Tuesday denied that Niehaus first brought the matter to his attention by confessing.
”I did not hear from Carl Niehaus about the alleged irregularities,” he said.
”I already knew that something was going wrong because our own people in [Geda] had alerted us. So by the time [Niehaus] came to me he was already confronted that there was an investigation that was going to take place,” added Mashatile.
He said that once told that an investigation was imminent, Niehaus resigned. Since there was no monetary loss and Niehaus had resigned, Mashatile said the board of Geda decided to drop its investigation.
DA: Mashatile’s avoiding the issue
On Tuesday, a complaint was laid at Johannesburg Central Police Station against Mashatile by the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader in the Gauteng legislature, Jack Bloom.
The basis of the complaint is that Mashatile, having known about Niehaus’s alleged fraud, was required to report it.
Mashatile cited that the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt (PCC) Activities Act and said that responsibility for reporting Niehaus’s activities would have lain with the board of Geda.
”There is no obligation on me whatsoever to go and report anybody to the police,” said Mashatile.
Mashatile promised to help the police in their investigation of Carl Niehaus.
On Tuesday, Bloom called Mashatile’s response ”just bravado”.
”He’s avoiding the issue,” said Bloom.
He said that in addition to the PCC Act, Mashatile could have also broken common law by being an accessory after the fact or defeating the ends of justice.
On Tuesday, provincial secretary of the ANC David Makhura called the laying of a charge by the DA a ”smear campaign and cheap electioneering”.
Mashatile and Makhura dismissed the suggestion that the controversy around Niehaus would hurt the ANC’s election campaign.
”The issue of Carl Niehaus does not bother [ANC voters]. Carl Niehaus is a liar,” said Mashatile.
Niehaus announced his resignation on Tuesday night, which the ANC accepted, unlike last week, when it did not want to accept his offer to resign. — Sapa