Investigating Directorate Against Corruption head Andrea Johnson last year said a cyber expert found data had been deleted from two cellphones that police officers seized from suspect Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, who is central to South Africa’s (SA’s) law enforcement scandal. But Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo has denied this. The wedge between certain police officers and the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) is becoming more obvious, reiterating the deep rifts between some of SA’s law-enforcing state structures.
National Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo testified at Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Thursday 15 and Friday, 16 January. The committee is investigating allegations that a cartel, known as the Big Five, has infiltrated SA’s criminal justice system, law enforcement, politics and private security. On Friday, while answering questions from committee members, Khumalo outlined his stance on comments that Idac head Andrea Johnson previously made while also testifying as a witness.
And this suggested that Khumalo believes that she – or a cyber expert working with or for Idac – has lied. Responding to questions, Khumalo also said that while Johnson was not part of the cartel that allegedly infiltrated law enforcement, certain Idac actions appeared to be “sympathetic” to it. Relations between Khumalo and Idac have been tenuous.
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In June last year, Idac members arrested him, as well as six of his colleagues, in connection with an allegedly irregular appointment. They denied the accusations, and in this broader scandal, there have been some assertions that Khumalo’s arrest was part of a plot to protect certain crime suspects. Khumalo on Friday said that when he was detained, “it did not feel right”. He described the case he faced as “a pure labour matter” and said the motives behind it appeared to include disrupting reforms he had implemented at Crime Intelligence to clean up the unit.
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