Adams said he has been painted as a bad public representative when all he has done is to seek answers for his community.
Suspended Member of Parliament (MP) Fadiel Adams testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry at Brigette Mabandla Judicial College on August 19, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu)
Suspended member of parliament (MP) and National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader Fadiel Adams has turned the tables on KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, claiming it is he who must explain his alleged links with criminals.
On Wednesday, Adams returned to the Madlanga commission, where he addressed issues relating to his arrest in May, his possession of Crime Intelligence information and the political killings task team (PKTT).
During his appearance before the ad hoc committee in September 2025, Mkhwanazi accused politicians, including members of parliament, of gaining access to Crime Intelligence information and mishandling it.
He flagged Adams for opening three criminal cases based on the Crime Intelligence information he accessed.
“This information involved personal information of individuals extracted by Crime Intelligence when conducting a vetting process for security clearance for individuals. It’s very sensitive information because it involves digging deeper into personal details. Adams does not serve on that committee; he serves on the portfolio committee of police. He made the information public,” said Mkhwanazi at the time.
‘Doesn’t make sense’
Adams told the commission that his critique of the PKTT and Crime Intelligence was never personal, but stemmed from the complaints he had received about them.
“It was through these recurring interactions that I became aware of issues relating to Crime Intelligence, the PKTT, and allegations of interference with criminal investigations,” explained Adams.
As my engagement with these matters continues, they increasingly intersect with issues concerning the PKTT, allegations of political interference in policing, the appointment and deployment of senior officials, security clearance processes, and the integrity of investigations falling within the Commission’s terms of reference.
“My engagement with matters concerning the PKTT did not arise from any personal animosity towards members or any political disagreement concerning its continued existence.
“My concern was the financial support the unit investigating a few dozen murders was receiving. The PKTT has a R100 million-a-year budget that does not include overtime. It is actively investigating 130 murder dockets over the last 36 months. This translates into a total spend of about R2.3 million per murder docket.
“In contrast, the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) that operates in my community in that same period would have been combating approximately 8 000 murders on the Cape Flats, of which the majority are coloured children. The Cape Flats is roughly 10% the size of KZN. Compared with the PKTT, the AGU receives R2 600 rand per murder docket. It makes no sense.”
Adams on PKTT and Crime Intelligence allegations
Adams said he has been painted as a bad public representative when all he has done is to seek answers for his community.
“During the course of my public duties, I became aware of allegations concerning the matter in which certain investigations involving the PKTT had been conducted, including allegations relating to investigative independence, the exercise of police powers, and the interaction between the PKTT and other components of Saps [South African Police Service],” explained Adams.
“I was approached by two persons who I understand to be labour lawyers from Century City in Cape Town. They indicated that they had been commissioned to act on behalf of a Saps member in a labour dispute in which General Dumisani Khumalo was cited as a respondent.
“A meeting was requested, during which they alleged that they had been abducted by members of the PKTT and unlawfully taken to the North West province. They indicated that they instituted a multi-million-rand claim against the Saps.”
‘I deny allegations’
Adams further denied allegations that he received and shared classified reports concerning internal Saps vetting and the secret service account or slush fund, which compromised the PKTT by exposing its operational funding and vehicle procurement.
“This allegation is denied,” said Adams.
“The information available to me indicated an alleged contravention of the Public Finance Management Act. If Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi is aware that I possess classified documents and believes that I acted unlawfully, he should have laid a charge at the nearest police station rather than threaten me.
“Instead, he elects to make public statements against me in the South African media concerning my alleged exposure of corruption, which, in his own version, he’s known about for many years. This is a serious question to me. Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi never opened a single case.
“He indicated that I was being used. That may be his belief, and it may in fact be true, but it does not make the information I brought to the relevant authorities irrelevant.”
‘Mkhwanazi must explain’
Adams further implied that Mkhwanazi’s allegations that the MP was being used by a criminal cartel was a deflection from his own questionable links.
“Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi alleges that I am a conduit for a criminal cartel seeking to weaken the South African Police Service. This allegation is denied and false. It has been made without substantiation, in my view, in the same manner as several other statements made by Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi, which have not been properly tested, and I really hope this commission is going to.
“You see, Judge, when I tell you, General Mkhwanazi, instead of making allegations against me, should perhaps explain to this commission if he is in actual fact a conduit for Mr Timmy Marimuthu, a known criminal who he is alleged to have a close relationship with.
“There are, in fact, allegations that General Mkhwanazi has interfered in the arrest of Mr Marimuthu, and it is a fact that Mr Marimuthu’s wife has worked in crime intelligence as a police colonel, her first job in the province of KZN, where General Mkhwanazi is the provincial commissioner.
“Now, Chairperson, I assume that Mrs Marimuthu worked in Crime Intelligence under the tutelage of General Dumisani Khumalo. If Crime Intelligence cannot understand that a wife of a convicted criminal and alleged drug dealer is heading a department, then I am concerned, Chair.”
