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News - South Africa: Carl's deceit in paradise
Date Posted: Wednesday 18-Feb-2009By Shaun Smillie
For Carl Niehaus it was a free Indian island holiday in a top hotel, but for the woman who organised it, it meant she was R90 000 poorer. She claims she was conned by the disgraced former ANC spokesperson.
This latest revelation comes after Niehaus offered to resign from the ANC following a damning exposé in which he confessed to fraud, serious financial problems and a string of broken promises.
"He got a free holiday and I lost my Christmas bonus," claims Cheryl Clur, owner of Let's Travel, an agency in East London.
She said she fell for the smooth-talking ANC stalwart, who played on her sympathy and emotions.
Niehaus allegedly approached her about six years ago to organise a last-minute trip to Mauritius. The cost was more than R100 000.
"He told me he had been ill with leukaemia, had chemotherapy and wanted a holiday for his wife and two children. He played on my emotions with his illness."
At the time, said Clur, she wasn't too worried about spending the money upfront for a holiday, which included a seven-day stay at the Le Victoria hotel.
"He kept on promising he would pay the next day. Then he left for the holiday."
The stay included dinner and breakfast, and the family stayed in one of most expensive suites.
"It was high high season; that is why it was so expensive. But he just told me that he wanted the best."
When Niehaus returned from the holiday, Clur tried in vain to get him to pay up.
"When I read the SMS he sent to people that he owed money to, published in the Sunday Times, it was like deja vu," said Clur.
Niehaus did pay back some of the money, but they were "token" amounts.
She tracked him to the Rhema Church in Randburg, where he was the organisation's spokesperson. He ended up paying her back about R20 000.
"He ducked and dived, he threw around big names and he caught me very nicely."
Clur eventually had "to write off bad debt, which someone got pleasure from".
She said she could never get near him because of his bodyguards.
"I approached a lawyer but was told that there was no point. I was told he has been blacklisted and owes a lot of people money."
Last night Niehaus refused to comment.
"I have been instructed by the ANC not to comment on my personal affairs," he said, referring questions to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe. He did not return The Star's calls.
Meanwhile, Gaye Davis reports that loopholes in the anti-corruption law might see efforts to bring charges come to naught against Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile and his predecessor Mbhazima Shilowa for failing to report Niehaus's fraudulent activity.
The Independent Democrats has already laid charges against him, while the Democratic Alliance was to lay charges in Joburg today. It will be citing Mashatile and Shilowa, now deputy leader of the Congress of the People, as well as businessman Pierre Swart.
The charges relate to Niehaus's admission in a Mail & Guardian exposé on Friday that he forged the signatures of four Gauteng MECs to try to secure Swart's company preferential treatment relating to the sale, rental or lease of government buildings in exchange for a loan. The deal never went through.
The DA leader in the Gauteng Legislature, Jack Bloom, said the charges would be laid in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
Section 34 of the act makes it an offence not to report suspected corruption if it involves more than R100 000.
But Derek Luyt of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (P-SAM) said that while forging signatures was a fraud in itself, there was no fixed amount of money involved in what Niehaus had tried to do.
"The act further provides no time limit to report a suspected fraud. This is a huge loophole that we would like to see closed," said Luyt, the head of media and advocacy at P-SAM.
Shilowa told The Star: "They can include me on the charge sheet if they so wish. All I will be asked is what did I know."
On Monday night, Talk Radio 702 and eNews reported that some of Niehaus's assets were seized earlier in the day by the sheriff, and that he would be served with an eviction order soon. However, Niehaus declined to comment on these reports.