The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption is the National Prosecuting Authority's permanent unit for state-capture and serious corruption cases — the institution the country was told would finally convert the Zondo Commission's referrals into convictions. In 2025 it arrested Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, head of SAPS Crime Intelligence, and six colleagues.
At the Madlanga Commission on 22 and 23 July 2026 the directorate's head, Advocate Andrea Johnson, conceded under questioning that IDAC had solicited the affidavit from MP Fadiel Adams on which those arrests rested, that she had authorised the investigation of eight senior officers and a civilian without proper justification, and that colleagues had "misinformed" her. On 26 July she requested immediate release from office, citing "unprecedented" attacks and reputational risk to the NPA; the President acceded on 27 July on the recommendation of Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, supported by NDPP Andy Mothibi.
On 31 July 2026 Kubayi suspended senior investigators Dylan Perumal, Brian Padayachee and Suneel Bellochun, ordered a review of IDAC's procedures, CV verification of all 146 staff by 14 August, lifestyle audits, and a full audit of the directorate's case load led by a senior SIU investigator. The episode is recorded as state failure rather than theft: the state's flagship anti-corruption prosecutor was found, by a judicial commission, to have run a politically consequential prosecution on manufactured foundations, and its leadership fell within a week.