By Johnathan Paoli
Madlanga Commission chairman Mbuyiseli Madlanga has questioned the validity of the medical certificate submitted on behalf of Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head Advocate Andrea Johnson after her scheduled appearance before the commission was postponed due to her sudden hospitalisation.
Johnson was due to testify on Monday in the ongoing probe into allegations involving IDAC.
Instead, commissioners were informed that she had been “rushed” to hospital on Monday morning and would be unavailable until at least Wednesday.
Although the commission accepted the postponement, Madlanga expressed frustration with the medical certificate placed before the inquiry, describing it as one of a number of certificates that provide virtually no useful information.
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“I notice that this is one of those medical certificates, the nature of which I’ve previously said are useless in the sense that they give no information whatsoever. It’s not even a case of what [NPA advocate Apla] Bodlani said, which is confidentiality issues. It’s just one of those useless so-called medical certificates,” Madlanga said.
“But anyway, the bottom line is that Advocate Johnson is not here. Well, we are forced in the circumstances to postpone the hearing of Advocate Johnson’s testimony to a date to be determined,” he added.
Proceedings began with evidence leader Mahlape Sello requesting a brief adjournment before informing the commission that Johnson would not be able to testify.
“The witness today was scheduled to be Advocate Andrea Johnson. She, unfortunately, will not be available today to testify. And her counsel is ready to address the commission on the circumstances leading to this stage of affairs,” Sello told the commission.
Appearing on behalf of IDAC, senior counsel Bodlani said Johnson’s legal representatives were informed of the emergency shortly before arriving at the hearing venue.
“Shortly before my arrival at the venue this morning, the representative of the client received a telephone call from one of Advocate Johnson’s protectors, informing us that she is not able to be with us. They are rushing her to hospital. I don’t know what has happened,” he said.
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Bodlani said Johnson’s representatives later obtained a medical certificate and spoke with her doctor.
“We were made to understand that she is with the doctor. She had some serious health-related issues that I’m not able to disclose in public, and that she is being attended to. The medical certificate in our possession indicates that she is not well, at least between today, the 13th of July, 2026, to and including the 15th of July, 2026,” he said.
Sello confirmed that commissioners had been provided with copies of the medical certificate and requested that Johnson’s testimony be postponed to a date still to be determined.
“In light of the fact that the witness is unwell and is only being attended to today, I would request that the commissioners postpone her appearance to a date to be determined. I fear that if we fix a date, we may be back before you to seek a further postponement because she is still indisposed,” she said.
Madlanga questioned why the commission could not simply proceed by placing Johnson’s evidence on record, as it had done previously with witnesses including Mike van Wyk and General Feroz Khan.
But Sello said the circumstances were fundamentally different.
“We considered the possibility of, quote-unquote, saving the day, so that the commission sitting doesn’t collapse entirely today. We considered that as an option, but ever so fleetingly, because the nature of Advocate Johnson’s testimony does not lend itself to that kind of approach,” the evidence leader said.
She explained that unlike previous witnesses, whose evidence centred on WhatsApp messages that could be introduced before they were recalled, Johnson’s evidence consists of narrative statements responding to allegations already put to her.
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“What I have are two statements, a statement and a supplementary statement from Advocate Johnson, both of which are narrative in nature. I don’t have WhatsApp messages to engage, or to share with the commissioners,” she said.
Sello added that reading those statements into the record without Johnson present would serve little purpose because commissioners had already studied them and would be unable to question the witness.
The commission is expected to resume on Tuesday morning with another witness, while a new date for Johnson’s testimony will be determined once she has recovered.
