POLICE CORRUPTION31 JUL 2026Prosecutor turns on former Idac chiefInvestigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) prosecutor Drushanta Ramsamy has accused former Idac head Andrea…Nkateko Joseph Mabasa8 min read

The Madlanga Commission heard allegations that former Idac boss Andrea Johnson directed investigations into senior police officials, relied on a different section 27 affidavit and attempted to dissuade prosecutor Ramsamy from testifying Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) prosecutor Drushanta Ramsamy told the Madlanga Commission on Thursday that former Idac head Andrea Johnson and senior investigator Dylan Perumal orchestrated investigations targeting crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo and national police commissioner Fannie Masemola. Ramsamy accused Johnson and Perumal of having “launched an orchestrated attack on General Masemola and Lieutenant General Khumalo using Idac’s powerful investigation tools”. Ramsamy said Johnson first launched Project Diversion, which targeted Khumalo and later opened an investigation into Masemola’s alleged involvement in the R360 million Medicare24 scandal, presenting it as part of the Tembisa Hospital corruption investigation.

Khumalo was arrested in October 2024 for the alleged irregular appointment of Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, a former BMW SA employee, as the head of the technical support service. The National Prosecuting Authority has since provincially withdrawn the charges against Khumalo, Mokwele and several members of crime intelligence. KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has accused Johnson and Idac of arresting Khumalo to stop the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) as it closed in on criminal cartels in Gauteng.

“I would be remiss if I did not dismiss the suggestion that Lieutenant-General Khumalo was arrested because he was the coordinator of the Political Killings Task Team,” Johnson stated during her earlier testimony. Masemola was later added as the 16th co-accused in the R360 million Medicare24 case involving businessman and alleged kingpin Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. The case remains before the courts.

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Matlala was charged alongside three company directors and 12 police officials. Johnson said a risk audit had alerted Masemola to the allegedly illegal Medicare24 contract and recommended that he stop payments. “It took him a long time to do so.

In not acting promptly and diligently as the accounting officer, monies in the approximate value of R50 million were paid out because of these unlawful corrupt activities before the contract was stopped,” she said. Ramsamy’s testimony centred on what she described as discrepancies between affidavits submitted by National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams in November 2024 and January 2025, which formed the basis of Idac’s investigation against Khumalo.

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