4 AUG 2026Johnson sidelined senior prosecutors in Crime Intelligence arrests, commission hearsNkateko Joseph Mabasa4 min read

The commission heard that former Idac head Andrea Johnson appointed junior prosecutors in a high-profile case against Crime Intelligence officers without consulting senior prosecutors Advocate Peter Serunye, a deputy director of public prosecutions (DDPP) at the Independent Directorate Against Corruption, has told the Madlanga Commission that he believes he and other prosecutors were set up after the then-Idac head, Andrea Johnson, sidelined senior prosecutors in the high-profile prosecution of Crime Intelligence officers. Serunye testified that Johnson had departed from normal prosecutorial practice by assigning relatively junior prosecutors to one of Idac’s most sensitive cases while excluding deputy directors of public prosecutions who would ordinarily have overseen such matters. “I sort of feel a little angry when I think about it.

It feels like I was set up. Not only me but [Adcovate Joy] Hlatywayo as well. As junior as she was, I don’t think she was supposed to have been involved in this case.

Looking at it now, it appears she was set up,” Serunye said. He said junior prosecutor Drushanta Ramsamy was appointed as lead prosecutor in the case against Brigadier Dineo Mokwele and junior prosecutor Hlatywayo as lead prosecutor in the Idac case against Crime Intelligence chief financial officer Philani Lushaba. Serunye was testifying about Idac’s October 2025 arrest of Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo and several senior officers on fraud and corruption charges linked to Mokwele’s appointment.

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Although the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), under its new head advocate Andy Mothibi, has withdrawn the case, the prosecution has come underscrutiny over Johnson’s handling of the investigation. Johnson has denied allegations that she orchestrated the prosecution to target Khumalo, who led the Political Killings Task Team. However, Idac prosecutor Ramsamy previously told the commission Johnson had orchestrated an attack on Khumalo through an investigation code-named “Project Diversion”.

Although he was later appointed to the two cases against Mokwele and Lushaba, Serunye told the commission that he had become aware of the case only after the arrests were made on 26 June 2025. “I had no prior knowledge of the matter. Out of concern, I enquired which group was responsible for it.

No one appeared to know which DDPP was responsible, which I found unusual, since every matter is headed by a DDPP as its project owner,” he said. Serunye said he had been surprised to learn that Hlatywayo, a junior prosecutor who reported to him, had been assigned to the matter without his knowledge. He said senior investigator Brian Padayachee had been appointed to the case but there had been no co-prosecutor. “It was strange that a junior prosecutor who was reporting to me was allocated to this case without me having been engaged,” he said.

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