By Anita Dangazele
- Senior investigator Mantsha Raphesu says Andrea Johnson told Parliament a whistleblower complaint did not mention the Political Killings Task Team, when he says it did.
- The claim adds to mounting allegations against Johnson, following a leaked recording and the reported dropping of charges against Crime Intelligence officials.
A senior investigator at the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption has told the Madlanga Commission that the unit’s former head, Andrea Johnson, presented false information to Parliament’s ad hoc committee on police corruption.
Mantsha Raphesu testified on Friday that Johnson told Parliament a whistleblower complaint from National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams did not mention the Political Killings Task Team. Adams had submitted what’s known as a Section 27 referral, alleging secret service funds were misused to pay for luxury vehicles and hotel accommodation.
Raphesu said the version of that document he had seen, after it was assigned to prosecutor Drushantha Ramsamy in December 2024 and then shared with him, dealt extensively with the PKTT and the alleged abuse of the secret service slush fund.
“I was watching when Andrea Johnson was presenting at ad hoc. There was a point where she indicated that the PKTT was not part of the Section 27 referral. I was shocked because the Section 27 that I saw, that information was there,” Raphesu said.
Raphesu’s account echoes testimony given by Ramsamy herself earlier in the week, who told the commission that Johnson presented a different Section 27 affidavit to the commission than the one Ramsamy used to prepare an application to open a formal investigation.
Ramsamy said the original document she was given included allegations relating to the PKTT, former police minister Bheki Cele, and misuse of secret service funds, none of which appeared in the version Johnson later presented.
The allegations against Johnson have escalated sharply in recent days. A secretly recorded phone call between Johnson and Ramsamy, made during Johnson’s own testimony and played at the commission this week, has also come under scrutiny.
Charges against Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo and other officials, originally arrested over the appointment of former BMW employee Dineo Mokwele to a senior post, have reportedly since been dropped, following what commission evidence leaders described as serious flaws in how the investigation was opened and managed.
Raphesu also told the commission he was mainly involved in unrelated cases, including matters concerning Estina, Denel, Transnet and the Public Investment Corporation, before being drawn into the Crime Intelligence investigation.
Commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga has said Johnson will be given the opportunity to respond formally to the new allegations against her.
Pictured above: Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) Senior Investigator Mantsha Rapheshu testifies before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
Image source:Supplied
