Under-fire Independent Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Andrea Johnson has apologised to Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, the former BMW mechatronics engineer who was appointed to the SAPS as a brigadier and later charged by IDAC alongside Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo and five others.
IDAC accused them of manipulating police recruitment processes to secure Mokwele’s appointment with the intention of later stealing funds from the SAPS Crime Intelligence unit. Among the lengthy list of charges in the unprecedented case are corruption, fraud and state capture.
On her third day on the witness stand at the Madlanga Commission on Thursday, Johnson was unable to substantiate any of the allegations, with the inquiry exposing several false statements she had made under oath, including in court papers and before the parliamentary ad hoc committee probing similar allegations.
“You described Ms Mokwele’s appointment as a token appointment. It’s an unfair statement to make, having not seen her CV or her qualifications. Can you please, before this commission, withdraw the statement that her appointment was a token appointment? It is an insulting thing to say,” said an unimpressed Commissioner Sandile Khumalo.
“I would have to go further than withdrawing it. I would have to apologise that the statement was made,” Johnson replied.
By her own admission, Johnson had never seen Mokwele’s application for the position, her CV or her qualifications, yet she had consistently labelled her unqualified. Mokwele, it emerged, holds no fewer than 12 qualifications and was studying towards an MBA at the time she applied for the position. Johnson has three qualifications.
“It’s quite clear that this is somebody who is very bright. I must say this to you. Before I saw these files, the picture painted in my head was that Crime Intelligence had appointed a receptionist from BMW.
“That’s the picture I had in my head. Until I saw these files, it became clear to me that this person is not just qualified, but that her qualifications exceed the requirements. From page 273 onwards, I counted about 12 certificates, because one of the requirements was that you must be familiar with computers, finance and how the public service works. Cyber security, on page 281, is one of them. There are about 12 in total. We don’t have to go through all of them, otherwise it will take the whole day,” Khumalo said, illustrating that Mokwele was, in fact, overqualified for the post.
The commission also criticised Johnson for appearing willing to mislead under oath in order to advance a narrative that has since been shown to be false.
“The difficulty that I have with your paragraph 25.1 is that, at the time you prepared this affidavit, you had an opportunity to come forward and say, ‘Perhaps some of the things we did should not have been done,’ seeing that you now have these documents showing that the things you have been saying are not true. Yet you continued spreading the same narrative in different forums, in your court papers, before the ad hoc committee and even here today. You only concede after being questioned. You never concede voluntarily; we have to force the truth out of you,” said Commissioner Sisi Baloyi.
Johnson’s situation is expected to worsen, with reports indicating that she could soon face criminal charges in addition to possible removal from office.