Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Andrea Johnson is back in the spotlight. President Cyril Ramaphosa is said to be monitoring developments at the unit as Johnson faces mounting scrutiny over allegations raised before the Madlanga Commission.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was very busy in 2019, delivering not one but two State of the Nation Addresses, among other things. However, one of his most supposedly consequential actions – one that raised the hopes of many law-abiding South Africans sky high – was his creation of the Investigative Directorate that was later remodelled into the Investigative Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC).
For that he got a lot of applause and won his party many votes among the long-suffering citizens who wanted to see action against crime and corruption, especially that of the grand scale.
During one of the addresses, Ramaphosa waxed lyrical about the then-newly appointed head of the National Prosecuting Authority, Advocate Shamila Batohi, who was supposed to “lead the revival of the NPA and to strengthen our fight against crime and corruption”.
Fast forward to 2026, Batohi is gone and has left behind a dark cloud. She has also left a mountain of a revival and strengthening job still to be done. And then, these past few explosive days – when we thought we’d heard and seen enough – more explosive revelations about the prosecutions body have come out. Instead of helping rid our society of criminals, it appears that some inside the brand-new prosecutions-led investigative unit were assisting them avoid going to jail where they belong.
