Fadiel Adams released on R10,000 bail

The leader of National Coloured Congress Fadiel Adams put his hands together in a prayer of gratitude when Pinetown magistrate’s court Wendalyn Robinson released him on R10,000 bail Friday.

Adams was arrested by the political killings task team in the Western Cape on May 5 and brought to KwaZulu-Natal last week, where he is facing three counts of fraud and two of defeating the administration of justice.

The war of words between commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and National Coloured Congress leader and MP Fadiel Adams will continue on Wednesday after Adams was locked in the back of a police van for a 1,600km drive from the Western Cape to KwaZulu-Natal to answer for his allegations of police corruption. The politician, who has been a harsh critic of the political killings task team (PKTT), has laid charges against Mkhwanazi for perjury, fingered crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo for the irregular appointment of a civilian to a high-ranking position, and levelled nepotism charges against national police commissioner Fannie Masemola. But the genesis of the feud was in October 2025 when Mkhwanazi said Adams, a member of the portfolio committee on police, had “recklessly handled” classified intel ― which the MP claimed was slipped under his door to investigate ― and interfered with police investigations. In return Adams called Mkhwanazi a “constitutional delinquent” who was “unfit to wear the police uniform”. The acrimony became more evident when Mkhwanazi said if the two were locked in a room, “one of us would come out”. Mkhwanazi claimed at the parliament ad hoc committee hearings and Madlanga commission that Adams used a blue light escort to Westville prison to interview the hitman convicted of killing ANCYL secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa, triggering events that resulted in Adams’s appearance in the Pinetown magistrate’s court on Thursday on two counts of defeating the ends of justice and three counts of fraud. The state says in November 2024 and January 2025, Adams misrepresented himself to various authorities when he visited the prisoners. The first was Sibusiso Ncengwa ― one of two hitmen who pleaded guilty to firing shots at Magaqa, as well as former PKTT member Capt Bonginkosi Dlamini, another awaiting trial prisoner who was fingered in accepting a bribe to derail the September 2018 murder investigation into ANC leader Thulani Lawrence Nxumalo. The state alleges he was not officially mandated by parliament to conduct these visits, but Adams is adamant the visits were to expose Khumalo’s involvement as per Dlamini and Ncengwa’s statements. An AK-47 was procured by the state, a car was procured by the state, SAPS members were involved during the time of carrying out the hit, they accompanied or shadowed the fellows who assassinated Magaqa. Anyone else who wants to divert us, we are not part of that, we are very resolute. Chairperson of the portfolio committee on police Ian Cameron told Sunday Times Adams had gone rogue when he solicited the interviews at prison, adding he had no mandate to do so. Cameron said PKTT members met him in January to clarify whether he was acting in his official capacity as a member of the police committee. He submitted an affidavit confirming Adams acted without a mandate and informed parliamentary speaker Thoko Didiza in writing of Adams’s conduct. Speaking outside court, police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe chalked up Adams’s arrest to another highlight for the PKTT. “Since the establishment there has been 407 arrests, 35 of which are policemen, 178 hitmen, 76 hitmen co-ordinators and more than 40 masterminds including municipal officials, councillors and tenderpreneurs.” In January an undercover crime intelligence officer, witness E, told the Madlanga commission that Crime Intelligence members were involved in Magaqa’s 2017 murder. The officer said that two weeks before the murder, he received a phone call from one of the hitmen, who was an informant, outlining plans to “take out” Magaqa, and when he alerted his superiors to this, they did nothing. He claimed that some of his senior officers were involved in executing the plot to murder Magaqa. But Adams’s attorney Bruce Hendricks said his client was confident these officers and the masterminds who gave the order for the hit would be revealed during his trial. He told the Sunday Times the case against his client is a “politically charged storm”, alleging the involvement of high-ranking police officials and the arrest suited a political agenda rather than a criminal case. Hendricks said Adams was in a secure location until the formal bail hearing on Wednesday and his wife and family would have access to him. “We can say he is safe for now, but if he were to be detained for a period, who can say what will happen then.” But Adams’s arrest this week is frustrating for the families of two men who are yet to pin down the mastermind behind their hits ― the murder of Magaqa in 2017, who was vociferous against the awarding of R20m to renovate the Umzimkhulu community hall, and the ambush that claimed ANC leader Nxumalo’s life for opposing the illicit sale of Ingonyama Trust land meant for community development. Ncengwa was sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment in July 2025, but three other accused Sbonelo Myeza, Mbulelo Mpofana and Zweliphansi Stanley Skhosana will return to the Pietermaritzburg high court on May 18 for trial. Myeza and Mpofana are out on bail while Skhosana, a former municipal manager at Umzimkhulu local municipality, is remanded in custody after an unsuccessful bail application. Magaqa’s right-hand man Thabiso Zulu described the arrest of Adams as a “decoy aimed at diverting attention from the real masterminds”. Speaking outside the Pinetown magistrate’s court on Thursday on behalf of the family, Zulu said: “All other things that are happening in the periphery, the sideshows is like someone who is chasing over a mosquito and leaving the person who is hurting people.” He said for the state to prove that it wants to solve Magaqa’s murder, they must arrest people who procured and hired a car through a slush fund of the SAPS crime intelligence. “An AK-47 was procured by the state, a car was procured by the state, SAPS members were involved during the time of carrying out the hit, they accompanied or shadowed the fellows who assassinated Magaqa. Anyone else who wants to divert us, we are not part of that, we are very resolute,” he said. Last week Dlamini, former police officer Lt-Col Khephu Ndlovu, induna Felokwakhe Ndlovu, his wife Sibongile Regina Khumalo and their son Lindokuhle Mbonambi were sentenced to 17 years in prison for sabotaging Nxumalo’s murder investigation. The court found Ndlovu was paid R120,000 to silence a witness. Dlamini’s family, who started a Back-a-Buddy campaign, still claim he was a scapegoat in the case and unfairly sentenced despite crucial evidence that was ignored by the court and that there was no evidence he benefited from the bribe.

Delivering her verdict, Robinson said based on the evidence lead by the state and the defence, she came to the conclusion that Adams is a suitable candidate for bail.

Robinson warned Adams to obey the conditions of his bail and also warned him to respect the rule of law. Among his bail conditions is that he needs to report at Mitchells Plain police station twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, until the finalisation of his matter.

He will have to reappear in court on August 14.

Whistleblower Patricia Mashale has publicly defended National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams after his recent arrest. Adams was taken into custody on Tuesday on charges related to the 2017 assassination of former ANC Youth League leader Sindiso Magaqa. Authorities allege that Adams engaged in irregular interactions with individuals linked to the case, specifically accusing him of interfering with convicted hitman Sibusiso Ncengwa during a “sensitive and advanced stage” of the investigation. He appeared in the Pinetown magistrate’s court in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday. The case has been postponed for a formal bail application, and he will remain in custody until May 13. After the arrest, Mashale took to Facebook to voice her support, stating bluntly, “I stand with Adams”. Mashale initially described the news of the arrest as “hilarious”, noting she first mistook it for an April Fool’s joke. However, she quickly pivoted, suggesting the arrest was a blessing in disguise because it forced the hitman’s affidavit into the public record. “He was denied the right to tell South Africans who gave the order to kill Sindiso Magaqa, but now he will be able to tell his truth publicly,” Mashale said. “They might have tried to bury the truth, but they didn’t realise they were actually digging it up.” Mashale argued that Adams was being targeted specifically because of his race, pointing out that other members of parliament facing serious allegations had not faced similar treatment. “This isn’t about racism or tribalism; it’s not even about the case or the truth. This is about humiliating a coloured MP,” she claimed. “Several other MPs have been accused of much more serious charges and were never arrested in this manner.” She further addressed the stereotypes often levelled against the coloured community. “Coloureds have been branded gangsters, druggies, and criminals by other groups. In their minds, coloureds belong in jail; they don’t deserve to rise up and challenge the narrative. I am coloured and I am not ashamed to challenge that narrative. Call me whatever names you want — you did not make me and you will never break me.” Mashale said she was unafraid of legal repercussions and even challenged the police to arrest her alongside Adams. She revealed that she was the one who originally brought the hitman’s situation to Adams’ attention in his capacity as a member of the Portfolio Committee on Police. According to Mashale, the hitman wanted to confess and name the “mastermind” behind the Magaqa murder shortly after his arrest, but was allegedly blocked by a network of corrupt officials. “I informed [Adams] that the hitman wanted to confess, but corrupt police officers, prosecutors, lawyers, and magistrates would not allow it,” Mashale alleged. “Some of those officers are members of the political killings task team, and their names are in the very affidavit on which the hitman was eventually convicted — after Fadiel Adams intervened.” Mashale maintained that Adams was simply performing his duties as an MP. She explained that the hitman sought Adams’ help because his own legal counsel and the investigating officer refused to facilitate a confession or a separation of trials. Adams subsequently assisted the hitman in securing independent legal representation, which led to his confession and conviction. Mashale also accused KZN police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of protecting those truly responsible for Magaqa’s death. “I’m not going to shy away from this one. The ‘cult’ can come for me, I don’t care,” she said. “Magaqa will get justice, whether they like it or not. You can fool some people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” Encouraging Adams to remain resilient, Mashale warned about the current legal climate in South Africa. “I guess at some point under this newly established ‘law,’ many of us will also be arrested for ‘interfering in investigations,’ because we are conducting our own investigations into the Senzo Meyiwa case,” she noted. TimesLIVE

Members of Adams’ family celebrated inside the court after he was released on bail.

The state painted the MP as a “constitutional delinquent” who gave the law the middle finger during his bail application on Wednesday.

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