The referral to arrest crime intelligence head General Dumisani Khumalo came from a complaint lodged by National Coloured Congress (NCC) member of parliament Fadiel Adams.
This was revealed by senior Independent Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) official Brian Padayachee at the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday.
According to Padayachee, he was appointed to handle the fraud and corruption referral against Khumalo.
Jurisdictional facts in Khumalo’s arrest
Padayachee said it was Adams who submitted the referral as an affidavit. In the referral, Adams alleged that senior crime intelligence official Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, who had previously worked at BMW and reportedly had no prior policing experience, was improperly appointed directly into a senior managerial position within the police.
He alleged that recruitment and vetting procedures were not properly followed.
“I have seen the affidavit and now it forms part of the bundle that has been submitted to the commission,” he said.
The commission’s chairperson, retired justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga asked Padayachee to give direct answers about whether the jurisdictional facts were met in the controversial investigation and arrest of Khumalo.
“As you sit there, are you telling us that at the time you were of the view that the jurisdictional facts had been satisfied? For a Section 27 referral,” asked Madlanga.
Padayachee said yes.
“On what basis?” Madlanga pushed him further.
“On the basis of the way I interpreted it. It is what was being said there: a person has been appointed in a technical post but is a civilian without qualification. For me that amounts to fraud and corruption, it needed to be looked at,” he responded.
‘Quantum leap in logic’
However, Madlanga said that was a quantum leap in logic.
“It is a quantum leap in logic, because you know many people get appointed in SAPS (South African Police Service), they cannot even salute but they get appointed because of their expertise. I am not saying Ms Mokwele had that expertise,” said Madlanga.
Padayachee also testified about discussions surrounding the planned arrests of General Dumisani Khumalo and General (Philani) Lushaba. He said he had informed KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi about the intended arrests.
“I want to put it in context that General (Nhlanhla) Mkhwanazi was fine with the first case of General Lushaba, he was fine with the second case of General Khumalo. But on the 28th I was in Howick, participating in a rifle competition, so my cellphone was off. During the latter part of the day I saw missed calls from General Mkhwanazi,” he shared.
Padayachee said he later responded to Mkhwanazi with a WhatsApp message but noticed that it showed only one tick, indicating that the message had not been received or read.
“It was a long day so I did not follow through with that, I did not bother about it until the 6th of July 2025, when I saw the press briefing and General Mkhwanazi giving the press briefing and I was excited,” he added.
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- The referral to arrest crime intelligence head General Dumisani Khumalo came from a complaint lodged by National Coloured Congress (NCC) member of parliament Fadiel Adams.
- This was revealed by senior Independent Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) official Brian Padayachee at the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday.
- According to Padayachee, he was appointed to handle the fraud and corruption referral against Khumalo.
- Jurisdictional facts in Khumalo’s arrest Padayachee said it was Adams who submitted the referral as an affidavit.
- In the referral, Adams alleged that senior crime intelligence official Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, who had previously worked at BMW and reportedly had no prior policing experience, was improperly appointed directly into a senior managerial position within the police.
