Fadiel Adams opened seven fraud and corruption cases against crime intelligence officials within four days in October 2024. That sequence, and the network of connections surrounding it, has become the central focus of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, which is examining allegations of political interference and criminality within the police.
The operational timeline is precise. On 29 October 2024, Adams filed three fraud and corruption cases at Western Cape police stations, alleging that crime intelligence’s secret security funds had been abused to purchase a forklift, vehicles and properties. Two days later, he travelled to Johannesburg and opened the same cases there. On 1 November, he emailed suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu claiming the dockets had been intercepted and requesting ministerial intervention.
Additional reference context is available at https://mg.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-08-21-how-the-commission-nailed-adams/.
Adams told the commission that classified intelligence documents had appeared under the door of his parliamentary office in late October 2024, and that he acted on that information independently. The cases targeted Dumisani Khumalo, head of the crime intelligence unit and project leader of the Political Killings Task Team, along with Major-General Nosipho Madondo and police commissioner Fannie Masemola, alleging they lacked required security clearances. Adams also alleged that Dineo Mokwele, appointed as a brigadier to head crime intelligence’s technical support services unit, lacked necessary qualifications and had been appointed in exchange for corrupt gratification.
Evidence leader advocate Lee Segeels-Ncube systematically challenged that account of independence. She presented testimony from Witness G, known as “Elvis,” a crime intelligence informant who handled businessman Brown Mogotsi. According to Witness G’s transcript, he assisted Adams during the Johannesburg trip, referring him to a detective at Orlando police station to open the cases. Adams confirmed meeting Witness G but denied phoning him beforehand, saying he received the contact details from General Andre Lincoln on the day he arrived in Johannesburg.
What changed the tenor of the hearing was the web of connections Segeels-Ncube then laid out. Mogotsi is alleged to have acted as a middleman between Mchunu and business associates. WhatsApp messages presented before the commission showed Mogotsi informing alleged Big Five cartel leader Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala that the police unit raiding his house would be dealt with. Mchunu subsequently disbanded the Political Killings Task Team on 31 December 2024. Mogotsi had also secured R150,000 in funding for the ANC’s January 8, 2025 conference in Cape Town from businesses and Matlala.
Adams said he was unaware that Witness G had a longstanding relationship with deputy head of crime intelligence Feroz Khan. Segeels-Ncube pressed the point directly: “So what you are saying is, it is coincidence, that the person who assisted with opening these dockets in Orlando, is also a person from crime intelligence, a friend of General Khan, the handler of Mr Brown Mogotsi, who has an association with minister Mchunu, who you complain to the very next day about your missing dockets.”
Adams said he was surprised by the connections and denied knowing Khan. He cited General Lincoln as the source of his information about the dockets being intercepted. Lincoln died in May 2025 and cannot corroborate the account.
Segeels-Ncube also questioned how Adams could have known within 24 hours that the Johannesburg dockets faced the same interception threat as the Cape Town ones. She noted that his docket contained only an A1 statement with no documentary evidence, and argued he abused his position as an MP by reporting directly to the minister the following day. Adams defended himself: “I did not abuse the minister and I certainly did not ask the minister to get involved in the investigative process. I asked the minister to intervene and ensure the investigative process was maintained.” He added that he withheld documentary evidence because it derived from classified intelligence documents he did not want to expose.
Commissioner Sisi Baloyi was direct about what the evidence suggested. “All of it seems unseemly. It seems like a scheme that was generated to culminate the way it did, which is at Idac, whom Ms Johnson has accepted had no business to get involved in this. It looks like a well-orchestrated scheme because your conduct does not make sense,” she said. She added: “There’s something wrong about this whole process. For lack of a better word, it stinks of mechanisation.”
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo noted considerable activity in December 2024 involving Mogotsi assisting people to open cases in Soweto, and asked whether Adams had spoken to Mogotsi around November and December 2024. Adams acknowledged phone contact but said he could not recall details and that they had not discussed the crime intelligence cases.
Adams maintained his motivation throughout. “When you connect dots, it does stink. I will concede to that. But my motivation was, ‘I am not going to let them get away with this,’” he said. Whether the commission accepts that framing, or concludes that the coordination was more deliberate than Adams admits, will determine what the inquiry recommends about his conduct and the broader question of who was actually running the operation.