---
title: "Adams puts Idac’s evidence under scrutiny while affidavit dispute deepens"
description: "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."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "MADLANGA COMMISSION"
author: "Vincent Cruywagen"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/vincent-cruywagen-2/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-19-adams-puts-idac-s-evidence-under-scrutiny-while-affidavit-dispute-deepens/"
published: "2026-08-19T22:26:16"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1365
---

# 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.

By Vincent Cruywagen · Published 20 August 2026, 00:26 SAST

## Key points
- At the Madlanga Commission, Fadiel Adams challenged Idac’s account as unreliable, insisting he gave one version and demanding the disputed 6 January 2025 interview recording be transcribed and put on the record.
- Central to the row is a supplementary affidavit labelled “A1” filed in court that Idac witnesses say was not one of the four statements taken in Cape Town — prompting claims that documents may have been replaced or altered.
- Adams’ late‑2024 complaint triggered an Idac probe that led to Dumisani Khumalo’s arrest and explosive briefings, but key charges were later provisionally withdrawn. Idac boss Andrea Johnson has vacated her post as the commission probes how the investigation widened.
- Adams insists his gripe was about PKTT spending and oversight — not a personal vendetta — and accuses Idac of dysfunction, warning that dual police roles erode investigative independence and demanding clarity on how the probe expanded beyond his original complaint.

## Content

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.

[FOR CONTEXT

‘Hidden hand’ may have steered Idac probe beyond Fadiel Adams’ complaint, hearing told

July 28, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/Q8a8mt_YTKCdTTs2bi2yBCMLOkY=/450x0/smart/file/attachments/orphans/ED_616652_128978.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-07-28-hidden-hand-may-have-steered-idac-probe-beyond-fadiel-adams-complaint-hearing-told/)

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.

### **Idac’s expanding investigation**

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.

![Vince-Adams-testify-Madlanga](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/Xxkb_m6gilp4_YtpKKs8VLLm16g=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WhatsAppImage2026-01-15at114119_719243.jpeg)

*Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo. (Photo: Phando Jikelo / RSA Parliament)*

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. But the statement marked “A1”, later filed in court and before the Madlanga Commission by Idac chief investigator Dylan Perumal, was not among those four statements.

The discrepancy raises questions over whether affidavits commissioned in Cape Town were subsequently replaced, amended or supplemented without the knowledge of those involved in the original process.

![Vince-Adams-testify-Madlanga](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/SMM2CTJ_ZMLUne1J9d1FSVIgUNE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/ED_616925_598551.jpg)

*Advocate Drushantha Ramsamy (State Advocate with Idac) testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on 30 July 2026. (Photo: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu)*

Both Ramsamy and Idac senior investigator Mantsha Raphesu have testified before the commission that the supplementary affidavit filed before the commission is not the one they commissioned on 6 January 2025.

Adams sought to distance himself from the discrepancy, telling the commission that he had given only one account of events during his interview.

“I gave only one account of the events during my interview. Any later differences between documents should be explained by those responsible for preparing and preserving the records,” he said.

Adams further testified that the custody and accuracy of the investigation records were matters for Idac and that, once he had provided his information, he had no control over how the documents were stored or subsequently presented.

### ‘Project Diversion’

The dispute over the affidavits is significant because Adams’ original complaint was the starting point for an investigation that, according to evidence before the commission, rapidly expanded to target some of the country’s most senior police officials and a wider probe into Crime Intelligence and the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

Ramsamy, during her evidence on Thursday, 30 July 2026, told the commission that former Idac head Andrea Johnson was in charge of “Project Diversion”, an investigation directed at building cases against suspended police commissioner Fannie Masemola and former Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo.

[Read more

Andrea Johnson’s ‘Project Diversion’ a personal project against top cops, inquiry told

August 2, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/Y921fWsHQG2qFYUkEfI7pkNi2nM=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Adv-Andrea-Johnson12.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-02-andrea-johnsons-project-diversion-a-personal-project-against-top-cops-inquiry-told/)

The NPA has since provisionally [withdrawn the fraud and corruption charges](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-07-27-charges-against-crime-intelligence-officials-dropped-as-andrea-johnson-capitulates/) against Khumalo and his co-accused arising from the alleged irregular appointment of Brigadier Mokwele, following mounting questions over the evidential basis of the prosecution

Following the evidence by Idac members, President Cyril Ramaphosa agreed to [Johnson vacating her post](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-07-27-andrea-johnson-requests-immediate-release-from-idac-post/) with immediate effect, requesting that her three-month notice period be waived.

There was also a lighter moment during Wednesday’s proceedings when chairperson Justice Madlanga intervened on a point of order after Adams repeatedly addressed him as “Chief”.

Madlanga corrected Adams and made it clear that he should be addressed as “Commissioner” or “Chairperson”. Adams immediately apologised and corrected himself.

### Adams calls for recording of
disputed interview to be made public

Adams has hit back at allegations made by Idac witnesses before the Madlanga Commission, describing the evidence as deeply concerning and raising questions about the directorate’s conduct, record-keeping and handling of his complaint.

Adams said he was “extremely concerned and shocked” by allegations of impropriety involving Idac and its former head, Johnson. If proven, he said, the allegations would raise serious questions about the organisation’s ability to fulfil its responsibilities.

He accused Idac witnesses of blame-shifting, innuendo and personal grievances, saying their evidence had revealed an organisation he regarded as “seriously dysfunctional”.

On advocate Ramsamy, who was part of the Idac team that interviewed Adams on 6 January 2025, he disputed aspects of her evidence about the meeting and objected to the recording of their conversation without his permission.

“I was extremely surprised to learn from her testimony before the commission that our conversation had been recorded. She neither requested nor obtained my permission, as a whistleblower and the person providing the information, to record the conversation,” he said.

Adams said he had acted in good faith, answered investigators’ questions honestly and should not be held responsible for inconsistencies in investigators’ documentation.

He also disputed Ramsamy’s evidence about how he received documents alleging corruption. Adams said he had opened criminal cases at Grand Central police station in Cape Town before travelling to Johannesburg, where he opened further cases at Orlando and Langlaagte police stations.

After returning to Cape Town, he said he raised concerns about the handling of his criminal complaint and the possibility that the investigation was being compromised or deliberately silenced. He said the then police minister subsequently directed his complaint to Idac.

Adams urged the commission to have Ramsamy’s recording transcribed and placed on the record, arguing that it could expose what he believed were material inconsistencies in her testimony about the events of 6 January 2025.

“I take great offence at what I regard as a misleading narrative concerning the day on which we met,” he said.

### Adams’ PKTT complaints centred on
its budget, not personal animosity

The crux of Adams’ testimony was that his concerns about the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) were not driven by personal animosity towards its members or political opposition to the unit’s continued existence.

His complaint, he said, centred on the level of public funding allocated to a unit investigating a relatively small number of murder cases.

“The PKTT has a R100-million-a-year budget that does not include overtime. It is actively investigating approximately 130 murder dockets over the last 36 months. This translates into a total spending of R2.3-million per murder docket.”

By comparison, Adams said, the Anti-Gang Unit had dealt with about 800 murders on the Cape Flats over the same period, the majority involving coloured victims.

Adams told the commission that [events surrounding his arrest](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-05-05-fadiel-adams-arrested-over-alleged-interference-in-magaqa-murder-probe/) on 5 May 2026 and his appearance in Pinetown also brought him to a greater understanding of the relationship between the PKTT, Crime Intelligence, senior police management and other investigative structures.

He said this reinforced his belief that concerns about accountability, oversight and the proper exercise of investigative powers warranted independent scrutiny.

“In my view, the independence within policing structures is being compromised by Lieutenant General Khumalo serving as both the head of Crime Intelligence and the head of the PKTT,” Adams said.

He similarly raised concerns about Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi’s roles as head of Organised Crime and KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner.

“In my view, the duality of these roles compromises investigative independence and creates an opportunity for abuse of process,” he said. **DM**