Carl Niehaus divorcing Jansie
2002-04-07 11:27
Johannesburg - Carl Niehaus, one of the ANC's most famous freedom fighters, is divorcing his wife Jansie, the soulmate and comrade he married in prison during the struggle.
The new love of his life is Linda Thango, a young business consultant.
Niehaus and Jansie have been busy with divorce procedures "for several months", he said. He did not want to talk about Thango except to say they will marry in May, after which they will depart for Holland where he will work for the next few years.
The divorce will be finalised in about two weeks' time, 16 years after he and Jansie got married in the Central Prison in Pretoria.
The Niehaus couple's daughter Helen, named after anti-apartheid activist Helen Joseph, was born in Holland in 1997, while he was South Africa's ambassador to the country.
The Niehaus couple met as 19-year-old students at the Rand Afrikaans University. Jansie recruited Niehaus, who planned to study theology at the time, into the freedom struggle.
They were both 23 when they were imprisoned for high treason for planning to blow up a gas factory in Johannesburg.
Niehaus got fifteen years and Jansie four. After three years the couple was married in prison.
When Niehaus was freed in the early nineties he became the ANC's communication chief, then ANC member of parliament, and eventually ambassador to the Netherlands.
After leaving politics Niehaus joined the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Criminals. He later became a director at Deloitte & Touche.