‘I was wrong’: Fadiel Adams caught out on dates at Madlanga inquiry

Faced with evidence, National Coloured Congress (NCC) MP Fadiel Adams has admitted he was “untruthful” before the Madlanga commission of inquiry when he said that he delayed submitting a statement to the inquiry for 10 months, because he saw an email requesting the statement “three to four months ago”.

Adams, the man whose allegations triggered the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption’s (Idac’s) now-collapsed corruption case against police crime intelligence generals, appeared before the Madlanga commission on Wednesday.

Adams is a key witness in the probe into whether the directorate acted outside its mandate and embarked on an “orchestrated attack” against top cops based on his complaint.

On August 11, Adams told the commission he had not seen an email from October 2025 from the commission requesting he file a statement, due to his laptop constantly freezing. He said he saw the request, from attorney Mari Wilsnach, to file a statement three to four months ago.

On Wednesday, commission chair retired justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga took Adams through evidence showing that the politician was aware of the October 3 2025 email from the commission and even responded to it.

“If you responded to the commission’s rule three notice, only 11 days after it was sent to you, you were not truthful when you said you only saw the email communication three months ago. Am I correct?”

Adams said he had forgotten about the October email. He did not accept that he told a lie.

“I will admit all this confusion regarding my emails and correspondence is entirely my fault. I could have done better and should have done better. My recollection is pertaining to the one [email from April] that comes afterwards. And I did get my dates mixed, and for that I profusely apologise,” said Adams.

Madlanga specifically referred to communications sent to Adams in October 2025, not the communications he received in April.

The email and dates are important because Adams only submitted a statement to the commission on August 10, 10 months after the initial request from the commission.

“So it was untruthful of you to say that you only saw the communication of October 2025 three months ago?” Madlanga asked.

Adams responded: “Now that I have all the emails in front of me, the information I submitted was wrong. I did forget about this [October] email right here.”

Although parliament disputed Adams had persistent problems with his laptop, Adams on Wednesday continued to testify his state-issued laptop was problematic for more than a year.

Adams said he has sent a lawyer’s letter challenging parliament’s statement that “I am basically lying” about the laptop constantly freezing. He said parliament technicians could confirm his laptop was problematic.