Niehaus wants second chance

2009-07-09 15:26

Johannesburg - Former ANC spokesperson Carl Niehaus has asked to be given a second chance to rectify his mistakes, the SABC reported on Thursday.

Speaking for the first time since he quit as the party's spokesperson in February, Niehaus said he had had time to reflect on the decisions he had made and was busy with rehabilitation.

"When I ask for forgiveness for what I have done wrong, I do not do so by trying to accept a lack of responsibility. I do not want to escape my responsibility," he said.

"I want to be the person who made the decision to join the ANC when I was 19 and stuck with it. I don't want to be the person who made wrong decisions."

Niehaus was addressing journalists at the National Press Club in Pretoria. He resigned as the party's spokesperson amid allegations of fraud, lies and deceit.

The ANC's Brian Sokutu said while he did not have the facts of Niehaus' comments to the press club, the party had said it viewed what happened as unfortunate.

"When this thing happened, we did say that Carl Niehaus is a respectable member of the movement who has played an enormous role in the liberation of this country.

ANC structures

"We viewed what happened as unfortunate and gave him time, as the ANC, to sort his affairs out," he said.

Sokutu added that the ANC had structures, should Niehaus seek to return to the party's employ, to deal with these matters.

"The ANC has decision-making structures and anything of that nature he would have to bring to the ANC through those structures."

Claims that Niehaus had allegedly engaged in fraud and lies to maintain an expensive lifestyle that left him seeped in debt surfaced earlier this year.

These include lies about him obtaining a doctorate, a fraudulent letter to obtain a loan and reports of millions of rands of debt, default payments and judgments against his name.

At the time, the ANC initially said he would be redeployed within the party, but later said Niehaus had withheld information from it and therefore opted to place him on a leave of absence.

His resignation followed this announcement. Niehaus has largely been out of the media spotlight since then.

- SAPA