By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The outgoing investigating Director of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head, Andrea Johnson continued with her testimony to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Monday, 27 July 2026.
Over three days of evidence, commissioners repeatedly questioned her over allegations that she gave the suspended deputy head of Crime Intelligence, Major General Feroz Khan, access to an assault and intimidation docket before he submitted his warning statement.
She invoked her constitutional right against self-incrimination when questioned about allegations that she emailed Khan details from the investigation docket, arguing that the commission’s fact-finding powers did not override that protection.
She acknowledged that the NPA was considering whether she should face prosecution in relation to the Khan allegations.
Johnson also testified that although she had known Khan personally, she deliberately limited contact with him during 2024 after media reports linked him to the murders of insolvency liquidators Cloete and Thomas Murray.
On Monday, Johnson faced extensive scrutiny over the key document that led to charges being laid against the Crime Intelligence officials, with commission leaders questioning whether it may have been fraudulent.
According to IDAC, National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader and Member of Parliament Fadiel Adams kicked off the investigation into the Crime Intelligence members when he filed a Section 27 affidavit outlining the allegations against Dumisani Khumalo and the other officials.
That affidavit came under intense scrutiny before the commission on Monday, with evidence leader Advocate Mahlape Sello SC raising the possibility that the version before the commission was not the original, and questioning whether the commission was dealing with a fraudulent document.
The dispute centred on IDAC chief investigating officer Dylan Perumal, who was absent from Monday’s proceedings due to illness.
Perumal, together with fellow investigator and prosecutor Tyron Ramsamy, was involved in taking the affidavit on 6 January 2025.
It is alleged that Perumal later took a separate affidavit without the knowledge of the prosecutor and IDAC. Sello said: “Where that potentially lands me, are we confronted with a fraudulent Section 27? If not, how do we potentially explain these discrepancies?
Sello argued that there were conflicting versions of events between Adams’ affidavit and the evidence expected from the investigators who compiled it.
Johnson submitted that if the Section 27 affidavit currently before the commission was accepted as authentic, it would make little sense for Perumal to have later taken a supplementary affidavit dealing extensively with the PKTT.
“If one reads the Section 27 affidavit as it stands,” Sello said, “then it would be [little] short of lunacy for investigators Ramsamy, the other investigating officer, and Perumal collectively to take a statement regarding the PKTT and call it a supplementary affidavit.”
Sello pointed to what she described as irreconcilable contradictions in the investigators’ own evidence.
Three investigators were expected to testify that they jointly interviewed Adams before supplementary affidavits were prepared. Yet other statements appeared to have been taken by a single investigator, creating further uncertainty about the sequence of events.
While more evidence will be presented to the Commission, particularly on the role IDAC investigators played in charging the Crime Intelligence officials, Johnson’s admissions and the withdrawal of charges is a significant blow to IDAC – and an apparent vindication of KZN Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s July, 6, 2026 claims.
Johnson’s evidence is due to resume on Monday, 3 August 2026, after the commission stood her down following the extensive disputes over the Section 27 affidavits and related IDAC investigations.