The Democratic Alliance on Thursday hit out at Gauteng premier Paul Mashatile over the appointment of embattled former ANC spokesman Carl Niehaus.
Party leader in the provincial legislature, Jack Bloom, said Niehaus, who faces a series of allegations of financial misconduct, was hired as the Gauteng Economic Development Agency (Geda) head without
the post being advertised.
”Premier Mashatile himself must take personal responsibility,” Bloom said.
Bloom said Mashatile then appointed ”his Alexandra friend Keith Khoza” as the agency head while remained acting chair of the Geda board.
”… [this] was an outrageous conflict of interest,” he said.
”This isn’t free competitive capitalism that can uplift the people. I call it ‘comrade capitalism’, where you look after your buddies at the expense of the poor.”
The Gauteng provincial government responded to Bloom’s allegation dismissing them as ”face-saving tactics”.
”We would like to state categorically that Bloom is clutching at straws as he desperately tries to divert attention from the blunder he made on Tuesday 17 February 2009,” spokesperson Simon Zwane said.
This was when Bloom brought a complaint against Mashatile at the Johannesburg Central police station.
The basis of the complaint was that Mashatile, having known about Niehaus’ alleged fraud, was required to report it.
Niehaus admitted to the Mail & Guardian last week that he had forged signatures while he was chief executive of Geda before resigning in December 2005.
He also said he had borrowed money over a six-year period from some of the brightest stars of the ANC and business galaxy, much of which he has not paid back.
He also said he had to leave a top job at Deloitte & Touche in 2003 after his financial woes became embarrassing.
Niehaus said through this attorney this week that his current ”personal situation” was due to the effects of his ”time spent in prison for his principled opposition to apartheid”, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Niehaus was seeking professional help, his attorney, Ian Small Smith, said in a statement.
”Carl Niehaus has today [Wednesday] sought professional assistance in the two areas vital to dealing conclusively with his personal situation and reconstructing his life.
”He is seeking psychological counselling to assist him in dealing with the long-term and deeply negative affects of his time spent in prison for his principled opposition to apartheid,” read the statement.
Niehaus served seven-and-a-half years of a 15-year jail term in the 1980s for high treason.
The statement by his lawyer confirmed his resignation from ”his position with the African National Congress” but added that he remained a loyal member of the party. – Sapa