MADLANGA COMMISSION: Adams puts Idac’s evidence under scrutiny while affidavit dispute deepens

National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams has disputed key aspects of testimony from Idac members, raising questions over his original complaint, conflicting versions of his statement and the handling of evidence that became central to an investigation that rocked the police.

In late 2024, now suspended National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams laid a series of criminal charges implicating top SAPS Crime Intelligence members that had a chain effect and, in part, led to KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s explosive July 2025 press briefing and the subsequent Madlanga Commission.

Adams said confidential Crime Intelligence documents had been secretly slipped under the door of his parliamentary office, exposing alleged high-level corruption, misuse of secret funds and manipulation of police vetting processes in Crime Intelligence.

It led to an Investigative Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) investigation and the arrest of Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo in June 2025.

But evidence before the Madlanga Commission has exposed significant questions about the provenance of the documents, the contents of Adams’ original complaint and whether the investigation that followed remained within the boundaries of what he had actually alleged.

On Wednesday, 19 August 2026, Adams returned to the Madlanga Commission after a previous postponement when he claimed that his parliamentary laptop was broken, delaying his ability to reply to the commission’s requests, an excuse that was rejected by chairperson, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga.

One of the central issues in Adams’ evidence on Wednesday was what transpired on 6 January 2025, when Idac officials interviewed him in Cape Town and took supplementary affidavits.

His initial complaint named three people, but the investigation later expanded to include a substantially wider group of officials and matters, with seven Idac members, including Khumalo, eventually charged for the alleged wrongful hiring of Brigadier Dineo Mokwele in a scheme Idac described as an attempt to capture Crime Intelligence.

Those charges have since been provisionally withdrawn, and the commission is trying to get to the bottom of how the investigation expanded beyond Adams’ original complaint.

Four supplementary statements were taken in the presence of Idac prosecutor advocate Drushantha Ramsamy, according to evidence before the commission.