‘Hebanna!’ MPs stunned to learn that Andrea Johnson was untruthful with the ad hoc committee

“Hebanna!”

That single exclamation from the chief whip of the majority party, Mdumiseni Ntuli, captured the mood inside Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Thursday after MPs learnt, in real time, that Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head Adv Andrea Johnson had conceded before the Madlanga commission that she had given the committee incorrect information on key aspects of the crime intelligence investigation.

The dramatic moment unfolded during the committee’s virtual meeting to consider its draft report into allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

ANC MP Xolani Nqola interrupted proceedings to alert colleagues to developments unfolding live before the Madlanga commission in Pretoria.

“Can I make an announcement?” Nqola asked.

“As we speak here in the ad hoc, the head of Idac is giving testimony on the statement she delivered in the ad hoc committee, and she has just conceded that she misled the ad hoc committee.”

“Hebanna!!!” Ntuli exclaimed.

Nqola continued telling members that Johnson was being extensively questioned about the evidence she had previously presented to Parliament.

“The entire statement and the questions you have asked here in the committee are flighted in the commission. She is being grilled about them. She has conceded.”

“Hebanna!!!” Ntuli repeated.

Earlier on Thursday, Johnson acknowledged before the Madlanga commission that parts of her evidence to Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee were incorrect.

She admitted she had wrongly told MPs that MP Fadiel Adams had not first approached then-police minister Senzo Mchunu before Idac became involved, despite documentary evidence showing Mchunu’s office had written to Idac requesting an investigation.

Adams’ Section 27 affidavit

Johnson also conceded she incorrectly told Parliament that Adams’ Section 27 affidavit reached her desk in mid-December 2024, when records showed it had in fact been received on November 21 2024. She attributed both inaccuracies to failures of memory rather than an intention to deceive.

The Madlanga commission did not find that Johnson had deliberately lied to Parliament. Instead, commissioners confronted her with documentary evidence showing that parts of her testimony to the ad hoc committee were incorrect and questioned how she had come to provide those answers.

Committee chairperson Soviet Lekganyane reminded members that concerns about the reliability of evidence had already featured prominently during Johnson’s appearance before Parliament.

“When we concluded our engagement with the head of Idac, if I remember correctly, it would have been Honourable Sibonelo Nomvalo who requested that there was certain information that Idac should have shared with us. The head of Idac made a commitment to us, but that information never came to us,” Lekganyane said.

Information-sharing arrangement

He revealed that the committee had established an information-sharing arrangement with Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga’s commission precisely to guard against contradictory or misleading evidence.

“That was the decision of the committee. If a witness comes before us and deposits a statement before this committee and the committee asks that witness questions and the witness becomes evasive or misleading and it later emerges that the witness was not honest or truthful with the Ad Hoc Committee, it’s a very serious indictment on the part of the witness,” Lekganyane said.

‘Committee to revisit records’

He said the committee would revisit its records in light of the developments emerging from the commission.

MK Party MP David Skosana said his party intended to pursue criminal action.

“Tomorrow I’ll be opening a case against Adv Johnson as a matter of urgency,” he told the committee.

Parliament’s ad hoc committee was established by the National Assembly to investigate Mkhwanazi’s allegations concerning crime intelligence, political interference in policing and the conduct of law enforcement agencies.

Knowingly providing false or misleading information to a parliamentary committee may constitute a criminal offence under the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, although the Madlanga Commission has made no finding that Johnson intentionally did so.

Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane