Why Fadiel Adams’ testimony at Madlanga commission will be important

The appearance of National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams at the Madlanga commission will be significant in establishing the circumstances surrounding the allegations that triggered investigations into senior crime intelligence officials.

This is according to crime analyst Chris de Kock who said Adams’ testimony would establish whether he was being used or was part of those who executed “orchestrated attacks” on crime intelligence officers.

Speaking to Sowetan, De Kock said: “They [the commissioners] will have to find out: did Mr Adams take the initiative, or was it the Idac [Investigating Directorate Against Corruption] that pursued the investigations against crime intelligence, which ultimately led to the arrest of Gen Dumisani Khumalo and several other senior officials?” De Kock said.

Lt-Gen Khumalo and his colleagues were arrested following a Section 27 referral to the Idac after Adams alleged that crime intelligence had misused its secret fund and irregularly appointed Brig Dineo Mokwele.

Adams said his allegations were based on classified crime intelligence documents that he had received anonymously in about October 2024. He claimed the sensitive material and procurement files had been slipped under his office door.

The charges were later withdrawn after Idac officials testified that former head advocate Andrea Johnson had “orchestrated the attack” against crime intelligence officers and had failed to follow prescribed procedures during the investigations.

De Kock said the commission’s questioning would have to determine whether Adams was just a useful person “for these strange complaints about the secret fund and the appointment of Mokwele, and he thought he was going to get a lot of publicity … because he would be [regarded] as a whistleblower, or he was a player in Idac and some people in the crime intelligence”.

De Kock also raised concern about the manner in which Adams handled the documents containing the allegations against crime intelligence, stating he should have referred them to the inspectorate on crime intelligence for further investigation.

“The secret fund is there to run undercover operations, because undercover operations are quite expensive. They have to infiltrate crime, so they can’t just go around in Golfs or small little cars. They have to drive big cars to create a legend that they are also criminals, and then they can infiltrate other criminals.

“So, by going around with documents, you compromise not only operations of crime intelligence, you also endanger the lives of those undercover agents because should the organised criminals know that this guy is not one of us, they would not spare you.”

Political analyst Prof Dirk Kotze said the commission would likely seek to establish Adams’ association with Maj-Gen Feroz Khan and, by implication, his links to crime intelligence.

“They would also want to establish the circumstances surrounding the fact that he received those [classified crime intelligence] documents in his office,” he said.

Kotze said Adams’ testimony could also tie into allegations made by the KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner that some politicians and police officials were working closely with criminal syndicates.

“They will want to establish to what extent Adams is indeed part of it [the criminal network] and whether he has been used in parliament to protect them from parliamentary processes,” he said.