Fraud and corruption charges against Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, former head of Crime Intelligence, and six colleagues have been dropped after the National Prosecuting Authority withdrew the case, ending a prosecution nearly eighteen months in the making.
NPA spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed the withdrawal following representations from the accused officials’ legal team and a comprehensive review of the case file. The decision marks a sharp reversal for the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), which had arrested Khumalo and his co-accused in June 2025 on allegations tied to the irregular appointment of Brigadier Dineo Mokwele to a position within the intelligence unit.
The charges collapsed in part because evidence before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry demonstrated that Mokwele held the necessary qualifications for her post, directly undermining a central claim in the original prosecution. That finding exposed deeper problems in how the case was constructed from the outset.
Andrea Johnson, who led Idac until Monday, 27 July 2026, when President Cyril Ramaphosa agreed to waive her three-month notice period and allow her immediate departure, has been compelled to acknowledge those procedural failures during her testimony. Despite her resignation, Johnson has continued to appear before the commission, admitting to significant flaws in the process that led to charges being laid against South Africa’s senior intelligence officials.
The core dispute centres on a Section 27 affidavit filed by National Coloured Congress leader and Member of Parliament Fadiel Adams on 6 January 2025. That document initiated Idac’s investigation into Khumalo and the other officials. During Monday’s proceedings, evidence leader Advocate Mahlape Sello SC raised concerns that the version of the affidavit before the commission may not be the original, suggesting the possibility of fraud.
Sello pointed to conflicting accounts of how the affidavit was taken and what investigative steps followed. Idac chief investigating officer Dylan Perumal, absent from Monday’s hearing due to illness, allegedly took a separate affidavit without the knowledge of the prosecutor and Idac. Sello questioned whether investigators Perumal and Tyron Ramsamy, who jointly took the initial affidavit, would logically have prepared a supplementary statement if the original document already contained comprehensive allegations about the Political Killings Task Team, the unit Khumalo headed.
The contradictions run further. Three investigators were expected to testify that they jointly interviewed Adams before supplementary affidavits were prepared, yet other statements appeared to have been taken by a single investigator, creating uncertainty about the sequence and authenticity of the investigative record.
By contrast, the outcome appears to vindicate claims made by KwaZulu-Natal police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in July 2025, when he held a press conference alleging that criminal cartels had infiltrated law enforcement, judicial and political structures. Mkhwanazi had asserted that Khumalo was being targeted to shield corrupt actors from investigation.
Johnson’s testimony is scheduled to resume on Monday, 3 August 2026, after the commission stood her down following extensive disputes over the affidavits and related investigative conduct. Whether additional evidence about Idac investigators’ role in the charging decision will clarify how the case reached prosecution in the first place remains the central question the commission has yet to answer.