MKP's David Skosana opens criminal complaint against former IDAC boss Andrea Johnson - Inside Politics
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has laid charges against former Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Andrea Johnson, alleging that she committed perjury and defeated the ends of justice through contradictory evidence given to Parliament’s ad hoc committee and the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
(MKP) has laid charges against former Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Andrea Johnson, alleging that she committed perjury and defeated the ends of justice through contradictory evidence given to Parliament’s ad hoc committee and the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. Opening the criminal complaint at the Brooklyn Police Station in Pretoria on Monday, MKP MP David Skosana said the party believed Johnson’s evidence before the parliamentary committee differed materially from testimony she later gave under oath before the commission of inquiry. “As you know that uMkhonto weSizwe Party made a statement in Parliament, the ad hoc Committee to say that we are going to open a case against Advocate Johnson. Indeed, we’ve opened a case today in Brooklyn Police Station,” Skosana said. “The ad hoc committee said something, the Madlanga Commission said something, and that’s what we call perjury. So the case of perjury has been made here in Brooklyn Police Station, and the issue of the defeating of the ends of justice, and we hope that the enforcement, the law enforcement agency will do what it’s supposed to do,” he added. Skosana said the MKP expected the matter to be investigated in the same manner as previous complaints the party had lodged with police. “If you remember well, it’s the same police station where we opened a case against Lieutenant General [Godfrey] Sibiya and [suspended Police] Minister Senzo Mchunu. And, you know, the police, we are happy that they followed up, those matters were attended, and we hope this one of Advocate Johnson, a former IDAC boss, that it would be as well to follow up,” he said. He said the party believed public office bearers should be held accountable regardless of their position. “As uMkhonto weSizwe Party, we need all the institutions to account. You know, it’s not like in the sixth administration. Seventh administration, we made sure that at least there’s accountability, and I think our actions speak for them, you know, that we are a party which wants everyone, and the South African as well, that the taxpayers’ money should not go in vain,” Skosana said. The criminal complaint follows weeks of scrutiny surrounding Johnson’s testimony before the Madlanga Commission, where she was questioned extensively about IDAC’s investigation into senior Crime Intelligence officials and apparent inconsistencies with evidence she had previously given to Parliament. During her appearance before the commission, Johnson made several concessions that became a focal point of the hearings. She acknowledged that IDAC, under ‘Operation Diversion’ had initiated an investigation into suspended Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo on the appointment of Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, despite the matter not falling within the unit’s statutory mandate. She also accepted that aspects of her evidence before Parliament differed from what she told the commission regarding the role of National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams’ complaint in initiating the investigation. The commission also heard allegations that Johnson had improperly handled matters relating to suspended Crime Intelligence deputy head Major-General Feroz Khan and had misused IDAC’s powers during its investigation into senior police officials. Johnson has denied political interference, rejected allegations of belonging to a so-called “Khan-IDAC cabal”, and invoked her constitutional right against self-incrimination on certain questions relating to Khan because a separate National Prosecuting Authority docket is considering whether criminal charges should be instituted. INSIDE POLITICS