JOHANNESBURG – News-making ANC member Carl Niehaus has labelled as a smear campaign media reports that he had told creditors he would receive an inheritance following his mother’s death.
He said the aim of the smear was to influence the outcome of the ANC elective congress.
Niehaus, spokesperson for the Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association and now associated with Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s presidential campaign, said the Sunday Times expose was an old and unsubstantiated story.
Niehaus’s mother is still alive. “The attack against me is consistent with the campaign by the white-owned media against the ANC presidential campaign of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, or anyone that is seen to be involved in her campaign.
“There can be no doubt that the smear by the Sunday Times in terms of its claims and the timing is part of the persistent attempt by the media to influence the ANC elective conference in favour of their preferred candidate, whose numbers do not add up.”
Niehaus said he was considering legal action against the newspaper.
He is no stranger to controversy. In 2012, the Mail&Guardian reported that Niehaus had asked Andries Nel, currently deputy minister of Cooperative Governance, for a loan to cover funeral expenses for his father.
It later emerged that Niehaus’s father had not died at the time.
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