By Johnathan Paoli
National Coloured Congress leader and MP Fadiel Adams, who is currently suspended from parliamentary debates and committee proceedings, conceded under sustained questioning that he had been “untruthful” when he previously claimed he had only seen correspondence relating to his Rule 3 notice about three months earlier.
Madlanga Commission chairman Mbuyiseli Madlanga on Wednesday repeatedly confronted Adams with emails showing that the commission had sent him the notice on 3 October 2025 and that he had responded to the correspondence 11 days later.
“You were not truthful when you said you received notice or you only saw the email communication three months ago,” Madlanga said.
This follows Adams’ previous appearance before the commission last week Tuesday, when he said he had not seen the commission’s October 2025 communication at the time and had only become aware of the Rule 3 notice about three months earlier.
Madlanga took Adams through the first email sent to his parliamentary address on 3 October, which expressly referred to a Rule 3 notice and attached transcripts of evidence.
The chairperson pointed out that Adams had responded to the email on 14 October.
Adams initially tried to explain that he had interpreted the email differently, saying he had seen three questions and had responded because he was experiencing problems with his laptop.
But Madlanga repeatedly returned to the central issue.
“When you said on 11 August 2026, you received communication, that is the email communication of October 2025, you saw it for the first time three months ago… that was untruthful. Is that so?” he asked.
After several exchanges, Adams conceded.
“Now that I have all the emails, even my response in front of me, yes, the information I submitted was wrong. It was untruthful. Yes, Chairperson,” he said.
Adams said he had forgotten about the October email and accepted responsibility for the confusion.
“I did forget about this email right here, Chairperson. I did. I will be honest with you,” he said.
He apologised repeatedly, saying he had confused the October correspondence with later emails.
“All this confusion regarding the emails and my correspondence is entirely my fault. I could have done better, and I should have done better,” Adams said.
The questioning went further when Madlanga pointed to correspondence from April 2026 reminding Adams to submit his statement.
The chairperson said the April correspondence specifically referred back to the Rule 3 notice issued in October, making it difficult to accept that Adams could have remained unaware of the earlier communication.
Adams conceded that seeing the April email would have reminded him of the October correspondence.
Madlanga pointed out that Adams had failed to mention this reminder during his 11 August testimony.
“You just give us the impression that your mind was a complete, clean slate until only about three months ago,” Madlanga said.
Adams maintained that he had not intended to mislead the commission.
“This is actually worse than an oversight on my part. It is. But I did not intend to mislead you,” he said.
The chair questioned Adams’ claim that he had not been able to deal with the commission’s correspondence because of persistent problems with his parliamentary laptop.
Parliament has disputed this claim, saying its ICT records showed no reported incidents of persistent laptop malfunction, hardware failure, repeated freezing or repeated submission of the device for repairs during the relevant period.
Adams nevertheless maintained that he had experienced serious problems and said emails were often sent to his administrator because his laptop “does not respond 50% of the time”.
Madlanga also challenged Adams over claims he had made in media interviews that he possessed proof of his laptop problems.
When Adams pointed to an occasion when he had used another MP’s laptop to send an email, Madlanga was scathing.
“You said you have proof and you’ve given it to the media. So the proof that you said you had given to the media was just this one instance of you using some other member’s laptop. That’s this great, great proof,” he said.
Madlanga told Adams this was another instance in which he had not been truthful, but Adams denied lying.
The chair questioned whether Adams genuinely took the commission seriously, given his earlier statements.
“I take this commission very seriously. I’m very respectful of this commission. Forget what I say on social media, that’s me acting like a fool all the time,” he said.
Adams said his workload as an MP and political party leader, including dealing with gang violence and “systemic issues” on the Cape Flats, contributed to his failure to keep track of the correspondence.
The commission continues.
