Investigator, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) · Pretoria
Testified
The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption investigator who was the lead on the Brigadier Dineo Mokwele matter - the appointment that founded the whole Crime Intelligence prosecution - and who testified at the Madlanga Commission on 31 July 2026 (Day 152) that he was cut out of his own docket and punished for objecting. He is one of the two IDAC officials whose recorded voice notes, played to the commission on Day 148, disputed the authenticity of the supplementary 'A1' statement chief investigator Dylan Perumal filed; this archive withheld both names at the time because reputable outlets could not agree on them, and released them once both had testified in person. Raphesu told the commission he intends to open a criminal case against Perumal and senior investigator Brian Padayachee, alleging that they targeted him, and asked the commission to intervene because he feared a complaint lodged through the normal channels could end up 'in the wrong hands'. He said team members consulted witnesses on the Mokwele matter without informing or involving him, that he was removed from key investigations, subjected to disciplinary action and later barred from working on cases involving police officers and the security cluster. He produced a disciplinary letter dated 7 February 2025 from then IDAC head Advocate Andrea Johnson's office accusing him of leaking confidential information, denied it, and volunteered his cellphone for forensic examination and himself for a polygraph test. He further testified that Johnson had put a false version of MP Fadiel Adams's section 27 referral before Parliament's ad hoc committee on police corruption, omitting the allegations that the Political Killings Task Team had misused Crime Intelligence's secret services account. He is an investigator giving evidence, not an accused; his account is untested and everyone he names is presumed innocent.
This profile summarises testimony and evidence given on the public record before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. It restates allegations as presented at the hearings and is not a finding of guilt, liability, or wrongdoing by any person.
Awaiting appearanceNo portrait on the public record yet
Their role
What the record says
Intends to open a criminal case against two IDAC colleagues
Raphesu told the commission he intends to lay a criminal complaint against IDAC chief investigator Dylan Perumal and senior investigator Brian Padayachee, alleging they targeted him. He asked the commission to intervene in how that complaint is handled, because he feared that lodged through the ordinary channels it could 'end up in the wrong hands'. Both men were suspended on 30 July 2026 pending disciplinary processes; a precautionary suspension is not a finding, neither has answered these allegations, and both are presumed innocent.
Cut out of the Mokwele investigation he was leading
'Although I was the lead investigator on the Mokwele matter,' he told the commission, 'members of the team consulted witnesses in that matter without informing me and without my involvement.' He said he was subsequently removed from key investigations, subjected to disciplinary action, and later restricted from working on cases involving police officers and the security cluster - the exact category of case he had objected about. Untested.
A disciplinary letter he denies, and an offer of a polygraph
He produced a disciplinary letter dated 7 February 2025 from the office of then IDAC head Advocate Andrea Johnson accusing him of leaking confidential information. He denied the accusation and volunteered to submit his cellphone for forensic examination and himself for a polygraph test. Untested; Johnson has not answered this from the stand and is presumed innocent.
Alleged Johnson gave Parliament a false version of the founding complaint
Raphesu testified that Johnson presented a false version of MP Fadiel Adams's section 27 referral to Parliament's ad hoc committee on police corruption, omitting the allegations that the Political Killings Task Team had misused Crime Intelligence's secret services account. The alleged omission goes to whether IDAC investigated selectively - the same question Commissioner Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC put to Johnson on Day 149. Untested.
Said the investigating team was denied documents
He told the commission that state advocate Drushantha Ramsamy had informed the investigating team she was under instruction not to give them documents. It sits alongside Advocate Peter Serunye's evidence on Day 153 that he too was refused the section 27 referral after taking over the prosecution. Untested.
“Although I was the lead investigator on the Mokwele matter, members of the team consulted witnesses in that matter without informing me and without my involvement.”
IDAC investigator Mantsha Robert Raphesu to the Madlanga Commission (Day 152, 31 July 2026), on the investigation into Brigadier Dineo Mokwele's appointment. Untested; those named are presumed innocent.