Advocate Peter Serunye, a deputy director of public prosecutions (DDPP) on the Impartial Directorate Towards Corruption, has advised the Madlanga Fee that he believes he and different prosecutors have been arrange after the then-Idac head, Andrea Johnson, sidelined senior prosecutors within the high-profile prosecution of Crime Intelligence officers.
Serunye testified that Johnson had departed from regular prosecutorial apply by assigning comparatively junior prosecutors to one in every of Idac’s most delicate circumstances whereas excluding deputy administrators of public prosecutions who would ordinarily have overseen such issues.
“I kind of really feel just a little indignant after I give it some thought. It seems like I used to be arrange. Not solely me however [Adcovate Joy] Hlatywayo as nicely. As junior as she was, I do not assume she was imagined to have been concerned on this case. Taking a look at it now, it seems she was arrange,” Serunye stated.
He stated junior prosecutor Drushanta Ramsamy was appointed as lead prosecutor within the case towards Brigadier Dineo Mokwele and junior prosecutor Hlatywayo as lead prosecutor within the Idac case towards Crime Intelligence chief monetary officer Philani Lushaba.
Serunye was testifying about Idac’s October 2025 arrest of Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo and a number of other senior officers on fraud and corruption costs linked to Mokwele’s appointment.
Though the Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA), beneath its new head advocate Andy Mothibi, has withdrawn the case, the prosecution has come underscrutiny over Johnson’s dealing with of the investigation.
Johnson has denied allegations that she orchestrated the prosecution to focus on Khumalo, who led the Political Killings Job Group. Nonetheless, Idac prosecutor Ramsamy beforehand advised the fee Johnson had orchestrated an assault on Khumalo via an investigation code-named “Mission Diversion”.
Though he was later appointed to the 2 circumstances towards Mokwele and Lushaba, Serunye advised the fee that he had develop into conscious of the case solely after the arrests have been made on 26 June 2025.
“I had no prior data of the matter. Out of concern, I enquired which group was chargeable for it. Nobody appeared to know which DDPP was accountable, which I discovered uncommon, since each matter is headed by a DDPP as its venture proprietor,” he stated.
Serunye stated he had been stunned to be taught that Hlatywayo, a junior prosecutor who reported to him, had been assigned to the matter with out his data. He stated senior investigator Brian Padayachee had been appointed to the case however there had been no co-prosecutor.
“It was unusual {that a} junior prosecutor who was reporting to me was allotted to this case with out me having been engaged,” he stated.
He additionally questioned why advocate Paul Louw, who routinely dealt with Crime Intelligence issues, had not been concerned.
“If issues have been completed in line with the guide, advocate Paul Louw should have been the venture proprietor, the DDPP within the case. If I keep in mind nicely, he was additionally there within the workplace that morning. He did not seem to know something concerning the case both. That’s what was unusual,” Serunye stated.
He stated he had been involved {that a} case involving the arrest of senior police officers was continuing with out correct prosecutorial oversight.
“I used to be involved {that a} matter of this magnitude, involving the arrest of senior members of the police, was being dealt with with out such help and and not using a DDPP overseeing it,” he stated.
Serunye advised the fee that he, advocate Jacyntha Witbooi and chief monetary investigator Sibusiso Tshikovhi had sought permission to look in court docket to help junior prosecutors, which Johnson had granted.
Serunye stated Hlatywayo had appeared overwhelmed in the course of the first court docket look. The J15 cost sheet had not been accomplished regardless of there being seven accused and she or he had struggled to reply the Justice of the Peace’s questions.
He stated the state had additionally failed to arrange a bail affidavit or establish witnesses, leaving the Justice of the Peace unconvinced that there was a powerful case. The accused had been granted bail of R10 000 every.
Serunye stated the Justice of the Peace had imposed a situation prohibiting the accused from getting into Crime Intelligence premises anyplace within the nation.
“Neither the state nor the investigating officer had requested that situation and the Justice of the Peace gave no causes for imposing it,” he stated.
The bail situation has been a topic of an enormous controversy implicating the Justice of the Peace as nicely. The Justice of the Peace has been subpoenaed by the Madlanga Fee and has due to this fact recused himself.
Serunye stated Johnson had convened a short assembly on 8 August 2025, when she knowledgeable him that he could be appointed DDPP. That had been after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s explosive 6 July 2025 media briefing.
Serunye additionally advised the fee that he had initially doubted Mkhwanazi’s allegations towards Idac.
Nonetheless, he stated the proof led earlier than the fee over the previous two weeks, significantly the testimony of Johnson and Ramsamy, had prompted him to rethink the allegations.
