Andrea Johnson rejects ‘Witch-Hunt’ claims as policing scandal exposes deep rifts

Four matters against Crime Intelligence officers are currently under investigation. Two other matters have already resulted in arrests.

This is according to Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head Andrea Johnson, who was testifying at Parliament’s ad hoc committee hearing on Thursday, 6 November 2025.

At times during the proceedings, Johnson was asked some rather personal questions. This is because her husband is an officer in the police’s turbulent Crime Intelligence unit, which has for years been rocked by infighting and accusations of slush fund looting.

‘Death threat’ and ‘witch-hunt’

Like the Idac, the Crime Intelligence unit is a critical part of a developing policing scandal in South Africa.

Parliament’s ad hoc committee is investigating this scandal that includes accusations that a drug trafficking cartel has infiltrated South Africa’s law enforcement, politics and private security.

Through the ad hoc committee hearing and other allegations that have surfaced elsewhere, opposing stances on aspects of Crime Intelligence have emerged.

A key figure on one side of this is Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who has alleged that some Crime Intelligence officers have been dubiously targeted so that investigations against particular criminals will implode.

WATCH | The head of IDAC, Advocate Andrea Johnson, says there is no witch hunt against Lt General Khumalo, as no matters were brought to IDAC before Fadiel Adams made his referral. pic.twitter.com/pw6b6BGkOj

— SABC News (@SABCNews) November 6, 2025

On the other side is Johnson, who on Thursday told the ad hoc committee that certain complaints against Crime Intelligence officers fell under the scope of State Capture.

During a question-and-answer session with Johnson, the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach put it to her that she had received a death threat.

This, it later emerged, was before the arrest in June this year of Crime Intelligence head at the time, Dumisani Khumalo, and six of his colleagues.

Daily Maverick understands that part of this threat, delivered to Johnson’s cellphone, told her to prepare body bags.

“The fight against corruption is not for sissies,” Johnson said when responding to Breytenbach.

“Of course, death threats happen. People have been taken out.”

She said it was the first direct threat she had received in her career, and she had needed to pause.

Johnson also addressed other issues.

She said there was “no truth to the allegation” that the Idac was involved in a “witch-hunt” against certain police officers.

Johnson added: “I do not seek to divide and conquer.”

Capture playbook

She explained that in November 2024, complaints against Crime Intelligence officers, emanating from National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams, landed with the Idac.

Several actions had led up to this.

Johnson said Adams was ultimately approached directly and asked for an affidavit so that a formal referral of his complaints to the Idac could go ahead. His complaints were divided into six matters.

Read more: ‘It was a war zone’ — National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams on the ‘gatvol’ moment he got into politics

“What was presented… in terms of the collective matters… fell within the ambit of State Capture,” Johnson said.

She referred to a report by the Zondo Commission, which had investigated allegations of State Capture in South Africa.

According to the report, Johnson said, “State Capture is a project where a group of actors, with their network of collaborators, systematically conspires to redirect state resources for their own private gain.”

Read more: Khumalo arrest — cops warned that Crime Intelligence clean-up would spark State Capture-style backlash

This was done through the dodgy influencing of state appointments and “weakening key state institutions like law enforcement and intelligence services”.

Johnson testified on Thursday that four of the six matters Adams complained about were still under investigation.

Crime Intelligence arrests

The other two complaints had led to arrests. These included Crime Intelligence’s chief financial officer, Major General Philani Lushaba, who handed himself over to the Idac in June this year.

Lushaba and three other police officers faced charges of corruption and perjury in a case that appeared to be linked to a 2022 theft that may have been misrepresented.

Other key arrests happened in the same month. Khumalo crops up here. 

Read more: Crime Intelligence division rocked by another scandal as its boss is arrested

Idac had detained him and six colleagues in connection with an allegedly irregular appointment. (It was after this that Johnson allegedly received the death threat.) They denied the accusations. 

The group appeared in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where the matter was postponed to February next year.

Johnson, meanwhile, testified to Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Thursday that everything concerning the June arrests of Khumalo and his colleagues had been above board and carried out respectfully.

She said: “Lieutenant General Khumalo was not placed in cuffs.”

This was because he was detained in a public area, and Johnson “didn’t seek to embarrass him”.

Mkhwanazi’s version

Her testimony does not align with Mkhwanazi’s allegations.

Johnson pointed out that while Mkhwanazi described Khumalo’s arrest as dramatic, it had been subdued and had only involved two Idac officers.

Mkhwanazi sparked what has become an unprecedented South African policing scandal.

In July this year, he made astounding accusations at a press conference, of criminals infiltrating policing and politics.

He subsequently made accusations against the Idac and certain politicians.

All this is connected with what happened in the run-up to Mkhwanazi’s July press conference, including Khumalo’s arrest.

Read more: Mkhwanazi alleges SA’s new capture — malicious corruption-busters and classified intelligence leaks

Mkhwanazi had alleged that Khumalo – and Crime Intelligence – were targeted as a way to frustrate investigations into certain criminals.

In other words, Mkhwanazi implied that Khumalo had been set up.

Fadiel Adams fits in here.

Mkhwanazi accused Adams of having “unauthorised access to intelligence information” and said that last year, the politician had first lodged complaints with the police against Crime Intelligence officers in the Western Cape and Gauteng.

Based on Mkhwanazi’s version of events, Adams turned to now-sidelined Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to expedite the complaints he had lodged.

Read more: SA’s policing scandal explodes – ‘Under siege’ Sibiya and Mchunu’s chief staffer raided

Mkhwanazi, previously testifying in Parliament, said he was of the view that Adams’s complaints were so flimsy that they did not even warrant reporting to the police. 

This is in stark contrast to Johnson’s testimony on Thursday about the collective complaints falling under “the ambit of State Capture”.

According to Mkhanwazi’s previous allegations, sources in the Idac told him there was a good structure in the directorate, but also a “structure that is malicious that is used as a weapon to further disrupt the criminal justice operations”.

Johnson said on Thursday that there were no “bad” or “evil” people in the Idac, but there might be individuals who did not agree with one another.

She also said it was worrying that Mkhwanazi had “sources” in the Idac and questioned why this was the case.

No ‘pillow talk’

Accusations about ties between the Idac and Crime Intelligence have surfaced previously. Johnson addressed these on Thursday.

Mkhanwazi had alleged that an Idac official, Brian Padayachee, had “never handled a case docket in his life, yet Idac employed him as a senior investigator responsible for the arrest of [Lieutenant] General Khumalo”.

Padayachee, according to Mkhwanazi, was a former Crime Intelligence officer.

Read more: NPA in crisis — Investigating Directorate boss Andrea Johnson’s unguided missile

On Thursday, Johnson told the ad hoc committee hearing that Padayachee and Mkhwanazi knew each other because the former would contact the latter when Idac was in KwaZulu-Natal.

She disagreed with Mkhwanazi about Padayachee’s capabilities at Idac, saying he had “the requisite experience” for his work there.

Johnson confirmed that he had previously worked in the police’s Crime Intelligence unit.

Thursday’s testimony also got a lot closer to home for Johnson.

She and her husband, Junaid Johnson, had both previously worked for the corruption-busting unit, the Directorate of Special Operations, better known as the Scorpions.

The unit was controversially disbanded in 2009.

Read more: Scorpions’ 2009 disbandment ‘a mistake, and SA’s problems prove it’ — Firoz Cachalia

After that, Johnson’s husband joined the police’s Crime Intelligence unit, where he remains.

While answering questions from MPs on Thursday, she conceded she had “no doubt” her husband and Padayachee had “encountered one another”, given that Padayachee previously worked at Crime Intelligence.

The ad hoc committee hearing’s evidence leader, advocate Norman Arendse SC, earlier also put it to Johnson that her husband would have worked under Khumalo, who was heading Crime Intelligence when the Idac arrested him.

During the proceedings, Johnson made it clear that she and her husband never exchanged information about their work. 

She understood that some individuals may react by saying, “You’ve got to be kidding, girl,” but Johnson reiterated that she maintained her oath of office to the point that she did not even know where her husband’s office was.

“Pillow talk gets people killed,” she said.

Johnson said if it emerged that her husband had done anything wrong, she would not compromise her integrity or oath of office. DM