NCC leader and MP Fadiel Adams testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on Wednesday 19 August 2026, admitting he misled the commission when he previously claimed he had not seen correspondence requesting his statement. Image: Freddy Mavunda/Business Day
NCC leader and MP Fadiel Adams finally testified before the Madlanga Commission on Wednesday 19 August 2026. The Fadiel Adams Madlanga Commission testimony produced one of the most dramatic sessions the inquiry has seen. Furthermore, Adams admitted he misled the commission when he claimed he had not seen correspondence requesting his statement. As a result, a witness who spent weeks insisting he wanted to clear his name spent his first day in the witness box admitting he had not been truthful.
On 11 August 2026 Adams told Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga he had not seen an email from October 2025 because his parliamentary laptop was constantly freezing. He said he only became aware of the Rule 3 notice a few months ago. He also told media he had never received a subpoena. “I’m reading the Madlanga statement and it states that I was subpoenaed. It’s a lie, I was never subpoenaed,” Adams said in a media interview. The commission played that interview back to Adams in the witness box on Wednesday. As a result, Adams faced his own public statements used against him in real time.
Justice Madlanga then showed Adams evidence that he had responded to the Rule 3 notice just 11 days after it arrived on 3 October 2025. Adams was not only aware of it. He had actively responded to it. Madlanga also reminded Adams the commission sent him continuous reminders since April 2026. “Even if you were to attempt to suggest not to have seen the emails of October 2025, this would have reminded you that there were emails of October 2025,” Madlanga said. Furthermore, Madlanga asked Adams directly whether he was taking the commission seriously. Adams said he was present and had arrived a day early at his own expense. As a result, Adams conceded he had not been truthful. “I was wrong,” he said.
Adams also addressed his social media conduct. He told the commission to disregard his online persona entirely. His social media behaviour bears no resemblance to how he conducts himself in formal proceedings, he said. He called himself a fool on social media. Furthermore, the commission has followed Adams’s vocal online presence in which he repeatedly claimed he was eager to testify. As a result, Wednesday’s testimony put that public persona in direct conflict with the evidence before the commission.
Adams did get to the substance of his testimony. He told the commission he opened six criminal cases between Cape Town and Soweto against Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo and colleagues. He accused them of misconduct and misuse of secret service funds. Acting on confidential reports he had obtained, Adams said he had no choice but to take the matter further. His Section 27 affidavit then triggered IDAC’s investigations into seven senior Crime Intelligence officials. Furthermore, the commission wants to know whether IDAC investigator Dylan Perumal allegedly asked Adams to submit that referral. The commission also wants to know about classified intelligence documents allegedly delivered under his parliamentary office door before he filed the referral. As a result, Adams sits at the centre of a chain of events that led to the arrest of some of the most senior officers in South African crime intelligence.
Adams also told the commission about his contact with convicted hitman Sibusiso Ncengwa. Ncengwa serves 25 years for the murder of former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa. Adams allegedly sought a statement from Ncengwa without authority. Furthermore, Adams faces charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice in a separate criminal matter. Parliament suspended him for 20 days and docked his pay after he shared a colleague’s contact details. As a result, Adams testified on Wednesday facing questions on multiple fronts at the same time.
The broader context of Adams’s testimony is significant. The commission spent recent weeks hearing from IDAC investigators, prosecutors and former IDAC head Advocate Andrea Johnson. A secret recording played before the commission captured Johnson telling a prosecutor to leave the country if the commission called her. The commission recalled Johnson to respond to those allegations. Furthermore, the commission removed all IDAC matters linked to Adams’s complaints from Johnson’s desk while she testified. As a result, Adams and Johnson sit at the centre of the same thread and their testimonies are deeply linked.
For more on the Madlanga Commission visit thepresidency.gov.za.
Editors Note Fadiel Adams is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. All allegations are unproven and will be tested through the appropriate legal processes. Adams admitted on Wednesday that he was untruthful when he previously told the commission he had not seen the October 2025 Rule 3 notice. His testimony continues. Mzansi Today Live will update this article as further information becomes available.