Hearing record

Day 138

Witness: Advocate Andrea Johnson

Summoned to answer whistleblower evidence that she leaked a docket to protect General Khan in 2018, IDAC head Andrea Johnson is a no-show - rushed to hospital, her sick note dismissed by the chairperson as 'useless' and her conduct drawing presidential scrutiny.

Awaiting portrait

The day in brief

What you need to know

  • IDAC head Andrea Johnson was scheduled to testify but did not appear - her counsel said she had been rushed to hospital that morning.
  • Chairperson Madlanga dismissed her medical certificate as 'useless', saying it 'gives no information whatsoever'; no new date was set.
  • Her no-show drew scrutiny from President Cyril Ramaphosa, who appointed her.
  • She was summoned to answer evidence that, as a prosecutor in 2018, she caused an assault-case docket to be leaked to General Feroz Khan before he was charged.

Full coverage

The day, in depth

The witness who did not come

IDAC head Advocate Andrea Johnson was the scheduled witness, summoned to answer the whistleblower evidence led the previous week: that as an NPA prosecutor in 2018 she caused the contents of a police docket - arising from Brigadier Leonora Phetlhe's complaint that Major-General Feroz Khan had assaulted her with a pen - to be emailed to a Crime Intelligence officer and handed to Khan before he had given his warning statement, allegedly letting him tailor his account. She did not appear. Her counsel told the commission she had been rushed to hospital that morning with undisclosed health issues.

'Useless' sick notes

Chairperson Justice Madlanga was scathing about the medical certificate submitted in support of the postponement, saying it was 'one of those medical certificates, the nature of which I've previously said are useless, in the sense that they give no information whatsoever'. No new date was set. With the head of the country's anti-corruption directorate now among a growing list of witnesses delayed on medical grounds, her absence drew public scrutiny from President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had appointed her.

In their words

Key moments from the record

This is one of those medical certificates, the nature of which I've previously said are useless, in the sense that they give no information whatsoever.
Madlanga on the medical certificate. Chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, on the sick note submitted for IDAC head Andrea Johnson's postponement.

Follow the threads

Who Advocate Andrea Johnson connects to

Alleged to have shielded him

Major-General Feroz Khan

A whistleblower alleged Johnson, as an NPA prosecutor in 2018, leaked an assault-case docket to Khan before he was charged. Testifying on Day 144, she said her 'memory needed jogging', called Khan 'very affable', and invoked her right against self-incrimination. Untested; both presumed innocent.

View profile →
Her directorate charged him

Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo

IDAC charged the Crime Intelligence head in June 2025 over the Mokwele appointment. Johnson conceded at the commission that she had erred on IDAC's mandate and had never verified Mokwele's qualifications; the NPA withdrew the case on 27 July 2026, the day her resignation was accepted. Untested; both presumed innocent.

View profile →
Her prosecutor, now a witness against her

Advocate Drushantha Ramsamy

Ramsamy was a state advocate under Johnson at IDAC and worked the Crime Intelligence docket. On Day 151 she played a recording of a 26 July call in which Johnson allegedly told her to leave the country rather than testify, and testified that Johnson drove 'Project Diversion' against Masemola and Khumalo. Johnson has not answered it; untested, both presumed innocent.

View profile →
Her lead investigator; both now out of IDAC

Colonel Brian Padayachee

Padayachee ran the Crime Intelligence case Johnson authorised and defended it across Days 139-141. She resigned on 26 July 2026; he was suspended by the NDPP on 30 July pending a disciplinary process. Neither step is a finding; both are presumed innocent.

View profile →