The party leader is expected to lay more criminal charges against Mkhwanazi.
Tensions continue to escalate between National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader Fadiel Adams and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, with the two now locked in a public dispute.
Earlier this week, Adams filed perjury charges against Mkhwanazi at the Cape Town Central Police Station.
The move follows Mkhwanazi’s decision to retract allegations he had previously made before parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating corruption, criminality, and political interference in law enforcement.
Those allegations involved former police minister Bheki Cele and alleged cartel figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
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Mkhwanazi also testified before the Madlanga commission — established to investigate similar claims — where he accused Adams of improperly handling confidential Crime Intelligence information.
He argued that the material was intended exclusively for vetted members of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, of which Adams is not a member.
The KZN top cop further alleged that Adams had used this classified information to lay criminal charges against several Crime Intelligence officers, including the division’s head, Dumisani Khumalo.
The officials were subsequently arrested and released on bail in June.
Adams lays charges against police leadership
On Friday, Adams expanded his offensive, this time laying charges against National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola, accusing him of nepotism.
“So many of his family members work at Saps [South African Police Service] in his office and many of them without the right credentials,” he told reporters.
The NCC MP denied that his actions against both Mkhwanazi and Masemola were part of any “fight back strategy”.
He claimed that Mkhwanazi’s July 6 press briefing had been a calculated move “to save his friends”, referring to Masemola and Khumalo.
“Remember, I’m the one that laid criminal charges against the heads of crime intelligence over a year, about a year ago.
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“Mkhwanazi’s press conference comes four months later to save his friends at crime intelligence, who I feel belong in jail.
“Mkhwanazi himself said it [that] the national commissioner was at the gates of jail when [he] called that press conference. He said it [but] people just aren’t listening.”
Adams insisted that ultimate responsibility for misconduct within Saps rests with Masemola, as the department’s accounting officer.
“If his underlings are buying Lamborghinis, hotels and going on holidays overseas without tax money, he’s the one signing it off. He’s the one implicated.
“I believe that he should have been at the gates of jail. I think that the press conference that Mkhwanazi called was to save his friends.
“This has got nothing to do with ethics. As a matter of fact, I don’t know if the man has ethics.”
Adams responds to Mkhwanazi remarks
On Thursday, Mkhwanazi dismissed Adams’ latest actions while speaking to the media in Durban, where he attended a KZN government launch event.
“If there is any case opened at the police station, anyone has got the right to open a case. Police must investigate.
“If there is a crime committed and the police feel that they must take that to the courts, the courts will decide to prosecute or not to prosecute.
“I was never afraid to be prosecuted, and I am not going to be afraid to be prosecuted now,” he said.
The KZN police commissioner added: “If Mr Adams, whom I spoke about in that commission, feels that he must then use the strategy to threaten or intimidate, it’s ok. I am [not] afraid of that.
“We already understand which side of the law he is on, and we will find each other at the right place. Let it happen; he must bring it on. I will never be afraid of it.”
Adams on Friday described the commissioner’s remarks as a “veiled threat”.
“Here’s my response: I will see your bet, and I’ll raise it.
“Next week, General Mkhwanazi, I will lay charges about the extrajudicial killings of children that’s happening in KZN under your watch. You’ve had nothing to say about that,” he said.
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