PRETORIA, Friday 4 September 2026 — Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has appointed Advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara as acting head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, placing a senior Special Investigating Unit lawyer in charge of the NPA’s specialist anti-corruption directorate following Andrea Johnson’s resignation.
Vanara takes up the post with immediate effect on secondment from the SIU and will serve until a permanent head of IDAC is appointed. Kubayi made the appointment after consultation with National Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Andy Mothibi.
The appointment fills a leadership vacancy created when Johnson resigned in July.
President Cyril Ramaphosa accepted Johnson’s request to leave office with immediate effect after IDAC and its leadership came under sustained scrutiny over the handling of Crime Intelligence-related investigations and evidence presented to the Madlanga Commission.
Johnson’s resignation did not amount to a finding of wrongdoing against her.
Some of the allegations and criticisms raised around IDAC’s conduct remain disputed or subject to continuing investigation and scrutiny.
Vanara joins the directorate from the SIU, where he serves as chief legal counsel.
According to the Justice Ministry, his portfolio at the SIU includes civil litigation and asset recovery, corporate legal services, legal support to investigations and legal compliance.
Kubayi said Vanara has more than 25 years of experience across state institutions, Parliament, state-owned enterprises and other regulated environments.
He previously served as Group Executive for Legal, Governance and Regulatory matters at the SABC and held senior legal positions in Parliament.
Vanara also became publicly prominent through his work as evidence leader in major parliamentary inquiries.
These included Parliament’s inquiry into the fitness of the SABC board and its inquiry into state capture and maladministration at Eskom.
His appointment comes at a sensitive time for IDAC.
The directorate is tasked with investigating and prosecuting serious and high-level corruption cases and forms part of the National Prosecuting Authority’s broader anti-corruption architecture.
Its institutional credibility has attracted increased political and parliamentary scrutiny following evidence presented to the Madlanga Commission concerning the handling of Crime Intelligence matters.
SABC reported when the appointment was announced that Johnson’s resignation followed what it described as a wave of allegations relating to IDAC’s handling of those matters.
EWN separately reported on Friday that Johnson resigned while her leadership and testimony before the Madlanga Commission were under scrutiny.
Vanara’s appointment gives IDAC an experienced legal administrator while government begins the process of filling the position permanently.
The acting arrangement also brings a senior SIU figure into an institution that has a different but complementary role in the state’s anti-corruption system.
The SIU primarily investigates maladministration and corruption and pursues civil recovery processes, while IDAC has investigative and prosecutorial powers within the NPA.
Vanara’s secondment does not merge the two institutions or alter their respective statutory mandates.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development welcomed the appointment on Friday but signalled that it intends to scrutinise Vanara’s performance closely.
Committee chairperson Xola Nqola said MPs would monitor IDAC’s capacity to pursue complex corruption cases, strengthen cooperation with other criminal-justice institutions and produce tangible results.
The committee also called for the eventual appointment of a permanent IDAC head to be conducted through a transparent, credible and merit-based process.
That process is likely to become the next major institutional issue surrounding the directorate.
IDAC has undergone significant structural changes in recent years as government sought to establish a permanent capacity within the NPA to investigate serious corruption.
The directorate operates under amendments to the National Prosecuting Authority Act, while an independent IDAC Ombud was launched in July to investigate complaints involving misconduct, rights violations or obstruction by IDAC officials.
Kubayi appointed retired Gauteng High Court judge Takalani Raulinga as the IDAC Ombud after consultation with the Chief Justice.
The combination of an acting leadership change and newly established oversight arrangements places the directorate under heightened institutional scrutiny at a time when South Africa’s wider criminal-justice system is itself being examined by the Madlanga Commission.
Vanara’s immediate challenge will be to maintain continuity in IDAC’s investigations while addressing concerns about governance, coordination and confidence in the directorate.
Parliament has indicated that those issues will form part of its oversight of his tenure.
The Justice Ministry has not yet announced a timetable for appointing a permanent IDAC head.
