Embattled anti-corruption boss resigns

President Cyril Ramaphosa has accepted Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head Andrea Johnson’s immediate resignation, reports News24. Johnson told Ramaphosa and prosecuting head Andy Mothibi that her immediate resignation, rather than early retirement or a fitness inquiry, would best serve the prosecuting authority and SA. This morning, Ramaphosa’s office confirmed that he had granted that request under Section 12(8)(a) of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, which allows the President to permit the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to vacate their office voluntarily upon their own request. Over the weekend, Johnson submitted a three-page letter to Ramaphosa and Mothibi, in which she argued that her resignation was best for the National Prosecuting Authority, Idac and SA. With Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi having made it clear that she intended to seek Johnson’s suspension pending an inquiry into her fitness to hold office, it is apparent that the career state advocate has decided to jump before she was pushed. She maintains, however, that this is in the best interests of the NPA.

The fal­lout from John­son’s col­lapse at the Mad­langa Com­mis­sion into alleged police capture last week has begun, with sus­pen­ded police Crime Intel­li­gence boss Lieutenant-General Dumis­ani Khu­malo pos­i­tion­ing to have crim­inal charges against him with­drawn. Daily Maverick reports that Johnson is today due to continue her testimony to the commission which is probing criminal infiltration in the justice space. John­son said the attacks against her have been ‘unpre­ced­en­ted’. ‘This is a dif­fi­cult request to make given the abso­lute love and com­mit­ment I have had for the pos­i­tion of being invest­ig­at­ing dir­ector of Idac,’ she wrote in the let­ter, which Busi­ness Day has seen. ‘The recent five months or so have been chal­len­ging and the attacks on both my per­son and offi­cial capa­city have been unpre­ced­en­ted.’ John­son said the alleg­a­tions against her must still be proven, ‘but that will again require the set­ting up of a com­mis­sion and a pro­cess that is both costly and time con­sum­ing. The coun­try can­not afford another com­mis­sion.’ She wrote: ‘The NPA and Idac must and will always come first and I believe that this resig­na­tion in the man­ner pro­posed would serve the insti­tu­tions and the coun­try best.’ The Sunday Times reports that Khumalo's co-accused, Brigadier Dineo Mok­wele, on Fri­day lodged a com­plaint against John­son with the Idac ombuds­man, retired Judge Takalani Raulinga. And watch­dog Organ­isa­tion Undo­ing Tax Abuse says all act­ive Idac cases will now require 'an inde­pend­ent review' if the dir­ect­or­ate is to sal­vage any cred­ib­il­ity.