News24 | UPDATE | IDAC chief investigator ‘targeted for phone, laptop’ in brutal gunpoint robbery

• Investigating Directorate Against Corruption boss Matthews Sesoko was shot at and forced from the road in a blitz attack on Friday night.
• Sesoko was abducted, severely beaten and robbed of his cellphone, laptop, and money before being dumped at the roadside.
• This comes two days after IDAC head Andrea Johnson narrated chilling death threats she received after attempts to prosecute high-ranking Crime Intelligence cops.

Top Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) official Matthews Sesoko was badly beaten and robbed of his state laptop and cellphone in a dramatic gunpoint abduction late on Friday night.

Three independent sources with detailed knowledge of the incident confirmed to News24 that Sesoko was attacked, two days after IDAC boss Andrea Johnson appeared before Parliament.

In her testimony, Johnson mentioned Sesoko by name and referenced their handling of politically explosive state capture corruption investigations.

The attack on Sesoko, head investigator of the entity, bore the hallmarks of orchestration and specific targeting, sources said.

It is understood that Sesoko had been travelling home, and while between Midrand and Benoni, was forced from the road.

READ | Khumalo slams IDAC case as ‘retaliation’ hours before Johnson’s ad hoc committee evidence

A car pulled alongside his and gunmen opened fire, driving him to a halt before he was ripped from the driver’s seat, with his attackers demanding his gun.

His car was found idling at the roadside approximately 15km from his home by police and vehicle tracking agents, who had been alerted by his wife when he did not return home and could not be reached, sources said.

He was stripped of his state cellphone and laptop and was forced to withdraw money.

After several hours, he was abandoned - badly injured - in Rabie Ridge.

IDAC spokesperson Henry Mamothame confirmed on Saturday that Sesoko had been kidnapped while driving home on Friday night.

“His assailants assaulted him and abandoned him near Rabie Ridge in the early hours of the morning. They took off with his cellphone and laptop.”

He said Sesoko managed to receive assistance and was taken to a nearby police station to report the matter.

“He is currently receiving the necessary medical attention, following his traumatic experience.”

He said, while they were wary of speculating on the motive behind “such horrific action and whether it is related to his work, the incident and its timing reflect the possible dangers in this space”.

He said that the incident had been reported to the police for criminal investigation.

Sesoko’s wife, Jenny, told News24 on Saturday that her husband was recovering at home.

She said the family was deeply shaken and had no clarity on the motive behind the attack.

She told News24 that Sesoko was “okay”, in that he was alive, but “not really okay”, in terms of the trauma he experienced.

While her husband remains in shock and awaits a doctor’s visit, Jenny declined to speculate on the reasons for the incident.

“They beat him up. Severely. All over his body,” she said, adding that she was not sure exactly what items were taken.

“They left him by the roadside, [they left] his [car] engine on. I don’t want to speculate,” she said.

IDAC is central in unfolding inquiries into allegations of police capture by way of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and an ad hoc parliamentary committee.

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, in a press briefing in July and subsequently in his testimony before retired judge Mbuyiseni Madlanga and legislators, accused IDAC of being a “rogue” force because of the arrest and prosecution of Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo.

Khumalo and other high-ranking cop spooks face graft charges for the alleged irregular appointment of Dineo Mokwele – with no policing experience – at the rank of brigadier.

Mkhwanazi’s version, in step with Khumalo, was that IDAC’s pursuit of the latter was driven by nefarious motives and a push to disband the Political Killings Task Team.

Johnson has strongly disowned claims of malicious intent as Mkhwanazi roiled the criminal justice cluster.

In her testimony on Thursday, Johnson said IDAC’s investigation into top police officers was lawful and legitimate and had prompted chilling death threats.

“Mrs IDAC you and your guy Shabalala, Perumal, Padayachi and Bellochun have went too far. You going to wish you did not fuck with us (sic). Get body bags ready.”

She said the arrest of Khumalo and co-accused, on 26 June, had impacted her life significantly.

“I was shocked. Throughout my career, I have experienced whispers of threats to harm colleagues and [me] for being involved in different cases. This time it came to me, directly, on my phone. Without going into details, the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] took several measures to secure myself and other colleagues.

“To date, there have been other incidents that have affirmed the validity of these threats, more especially to me. My life has changed completely instantly. I go to work and home. I go nowhere else as I no longer feel safe to do so. I have always been a very independent someone,” News24 reported her saying.

Sesoko’s work involves overseeing investigations into police corruption and misconduct, and he has been involved in high-profile cases, including testifying at the Zondo Commission on state capture.

Between 1992 and 1997, Sesoko was a public prosecutor at the NPA.

He joined the Independent Complaints Directorate – now known as the Independent Police Investigating Directorate (IPID) in 1997, where he held various positions over more than two decades.

His suspension in 2015 as head of investigations at IPID came amid a fierce battle for control of law enforcement agencies by actors supportive of then-president Jacob Zuma.

Sesoko’s suspension, alongside the removal of then-IPID boss Robert McBride, is now known to have been part of efforts at the height of state capture to silence and remove key individuals that posed a threat to Zuma-aligned roleplayers, such as the then-minister of police, Nathi Nhleko.

Sesoko was again suspended in 2020, days before court proceedings into former national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane were due to get under way. Sesoko and IPID played a critical role in the investigation into tender fraud, theft, corruption and money-laundering allegations around an R86-million contract for “blue lights” for police vehicles.

The case is still ongoing.

In 2022, Sesoko led a group of IPID senior officers, including McBride, in a court case against the Public Protector to set aside a report that found they had acted improperly in the appointment of a senior IPID investigator. The court ruled in Sesoko’s favour, concluding that the Public Protector had mishandled the investigation and had not been fair to Sesoko and the others.

None of the allegations against Sesoko were ever proven. He did, however, leave IPID and joined IDAC (then known as the Investigating Directorate) in October 2021.