Witness
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) · Pretoria
Testified
The senior prosecutor who inherited the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption's case against Crime Intelligence, and who told the Madlanga Commission on 4 August 2026 (Day 153) that the case never made sense to him. Serunye, a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions at IDAC, took over the prosecution of Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo and six co-accused on 8 August 2025. He testified that the accused had been arrested prematurely - brought to court before the investigation was complete and before critical evidence had been gathered - and that the investigators had 'proceeded on allegations rather than evidence'. On the corruption count he said the theory collapsed at the first question: 'it was not apparent what she could offer the generals in return, nor what unlawful act she was to perform', a reference to Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, whose appointment founded the charge. He described discovering at a June 2025 court appearance that a junior state advocate was running the bail hearing alone with only the investigating officer, the J15 form incomplete and no bail affidavit in existence. He repeatedly asked for MP Fadiel Adams's section 27 referral and was refused it; at a meeting on 1 September 2025 then IDAC head Advocate Andrea Johnson asked why he would not accept the investigators' assurances and urged him to proceed. He emailed Johnson warning that there was at most a prima facie case of fraud and no case of corruption on the available evidence. He told the commission he now believes he was 'set up' and that he and junior state advocate Joy Hlatshwayo had been drawn into an investigation they should never have been part of. The National Prosecuting Authority provisionally withdrew all the charges on 27 July 2026. He is a prosecutor 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.
Their role
Serunye told the commission that Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo and six co-accused were arrested and brought to court before the investigation was complete and before critical evidence had been gathered, and that the investigators had 'proceeded on allegations rather than evidence'. It is the same inversion - arrest first, investigate after - that the panel has pressed since Day 139. Untested; all named are presumed innocent.
On the corruption count specifically he said the elements were never there: 'it was not apparent what she could offer the generals in return, nor what unlawful act she was to perform.' A corruption charge requires an exchange, and on his evidence nobody had ever identified one in the case against Brigadier Dineo Mokwele and the Crime Intelligence officers. Untested.
He described discovering at a June 2025 court appearance that junior state advocate Joy Hlatshwayo was handling the bail hearing on her own, accompanied only by investigating officer Brian Padayachee, that the J15 administrative form was incomplete and that no bail affidavit existed. He intervened along with fellow Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Sibusiso Tshikovhi. Untested.
After taking over the prosecution on 8 August 2025, Serunye repeatedly requested MP Fadiel Adams's section 27 referral - the complaint that founded the whole investigation - and was denied access to it. At a meeting on 1 September 2025, then IDAC head Advocate Andrea Johnson asked why he would not simply accept the investigators' assurances, and urged the prosecution to proceed. Colonel Brian Padayachee had already conceded on Day 141 that he did not have Adams's original signed affidavit when the investigation commenced. Untested.
Serunye emailed Johnson stating that on the available evidence there was at most a prima facie case of fraud and no case of corruption. The significance is that the head of the directorate was told in writing, by the senior prosecutor on the matter, that the corruption charge could not stand - and the prosecution proceeded regardless. Johnson has not answered this from the stand; untested, and she is presumed innocent.
He told the commission that the evidence that has since emerged had fundamentally changed his understanding of the case and left him convinced that he and Hlatshwayo had been drawn into an investigation they should never have been part of - that he believed he had been set up. He is describing his own conduct as well as other people's, and the account is untested.
On the stand
Connections
Head, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC)
Serunye emailed Johnson that there was at most a prima facie case of fraud and no case of corruption, and testified that at a 1 September 2025 meeting she asked why he would not accept the investigators' assurances and urged the prosecution to proceed. Johnson has not answered it from the stand; untested, both presumed innocent.
View profile →Prosecuted him, then testified the case was prematureHead, SAPS Crime Intelligence
Serunye took over the prosecution of the Crime Intelligence head and six co-accused on 8 August 2025 and told the commission on Day 153 that they had been arrested before the investigation was complete. The NPA provisionally withdrew the charges on 27 July 2026. Untested; both presumed innocent.
View profile →The investigating officer on the case he inheritedSenior investigator, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC)
Serunye described finding Padayachee at a June 2025 bail hearing with a junior state advocate, an incomplete J15 and no bail affidavit. Padayachee defended the case at the commission across Days 139-141 and was suspended on 30 July 2026 pending a disciplinary process. Untested; both presumed innocent.
View profile →IDAC colleague who also says the case was wrongState advocate, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC)
Serunye and Ramsamy both prosecuted within the same directorate and both have now testified that the Crime Intelligence case was directed rather than evidence-led. Untested.
View profile →“It was not apparent what she could offer the generals in return, nor what unlawful act she was to perform.”Advocate Peter Serunye, IDAC Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, to the Madlanga Commission (Day 153, 4 August 2026), on why the corruption charge arising from Brigadier Dineo Mokwele's appointment did not hold. The NPA provisionally withdrew the charges on 27 July 2026. Untested; all named are presumed innocent.
Sources