MK Party says Andrea Johnson must face accountability after immediate resignation

MK Party MP Mzwanele Manyi has said Advocate Andrea Johnson should not be allowed to “escape accountability” after President Cyril Ramaphosa accepted her resignation as head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC).

Party to seek disbarment and records for inquiries

Manyi said the MK Party will petition the Legal Practice Council (LPC) to have Johnson struck from the roll of advocates and has asked President Ramaphosa to make relevant records available for inquiries. “We do not believe a person of Advocate Johnson’s conduct should continue to practise as an advocate,” he said.

Objection to the speed of the resignation process

The party challenged what Manyi described as a “speedily arranged” resignation process after Ramaphosa accepted Johnson’s resignation with immediate effect. Manyi told Newzroom Afrika that the MK Party had written to Ramaphosa and the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Advocate Andy Mothibi to object.

He said the party had written to the president on July 16 requesting Johnson’s suspension and received a response several days later that was, in his words, non-committal and said the matter was under consideration. Manyi said that, by contrast, once Johnson resigned the minister and the NDPP agreed and Ramaphosa quickly approved the resignation.

“We do not challenge the fact that everyone has the right to resign… But what we don’t think everybody has a right to is escaping accountability. You cannot resign from accountability.”

Allegations raised at the Madlanga Commission

Manyi pointed to evidence presented at the Madlanga Commission that, he said, implicated Johnson in mismanagement of IDAC and included claims of perjury, unlawful arrests and other misconduct. “There are pending lawsuits against the state because people were arrested unlawfully and without any legal basis,” he said.

He urged that the conduct that occurred while Johnson was in office still required examination, noting a fitness-for-office inquiry could no longer determine whether she should remain in post but that her conduct should be investigated.

Legal precedent and parallel drawn with Nxasana judgment

Manyi referenced a previous Constitutional Court judgment involving former NDPP Mxolisi Nxasana, which declared an agreement invalid after Nxasana accepted a R17 million settlement to vacate office. He said that judgment established the principle that an expedited resignation is not necessarily lawful and does not automatically extinguish accountability.

Next steps and other complaints

The MK Party intends to proceed with a formal complaint to the LPC to seek Johnson’s removal from the roll and said its legal team was exploring all available options if the NPA declined to institute a fitness-for-office inquiry. Manyi said the party would continue pressing for accountability and would ask for all relevant records to be made available for necessary inquiries.

The IOL report notes that complaints against Johnson are being considered by the IDAC oversight judge and that additional complaints have been lodged with the Legal Practice Council and the IDAC Ombud.

Resignation and Johnson’s statement

In her resignation letter to the NDPP, President Ramaphosa and Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, Johnson said her continued tenure had become a “reputational risk” to IDAC and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). She requested an immediate release from office and asked that her contractual three-month notice period be waived.

Johnson said much of the criticism arose from IDAC’s investigations into senior Crime Intelligence officials and, while maintaining that allegations against her remained unproven, she said a lengthy inquiry would be costly and would distract IDAC from its anti-corruption mandate.