‘Do I look embattled?’ Adams returns to Parliament as fraud case postponed
Fadiel Adams returns to Parliament after a 20-day suspension as his fraud and defeating justice case returns to court.
Fraud-accused National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams says he is back at work in Parliament after serving a 20-day suspension for sharing a screenshot of an internal email on social media containing the personal contact details of a DA staffer.
Adams made his first appearance at the Pinetown Regional Court on Friday morning on charges of fraud and defeating the administration of justice.
He said he returned to Parliament on Monday and hit back at descriptions of him as an “embattled” politician.
“The media should stop calling me embattled. Do I look embattled?” Adams said.
He also took another swipe at the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), which arrested him earlier this year at the Parliamentary Village in Cape Town, accusing the task team of delaying the case.
“Everything is late, and everything is last minute and sabotaged. We are talking about the PKTT. This is how they operate, but it is okay. We received everything late,” he said.
During Friday’s proceedings, State Advocate Nokulunga Ngcobo told the court that statements had been provided to the defence and asked for the matter to be postponed to October 16 for a pre-trial conference.
Adams’ attorney, Donovan Moodley, confirmed that the defence had received the statements and said the parties had agreed that the pre-trial conference should take place in October.
The charges against Adams relate to allegations that he misrepresented the purpose of a visit to Westville Prison, where he allegedly claimed to be carrying out parliamentary duties while meeting trial-awaiting inmates.
The State alleges that Adams visited Sibusiso Ncengwa, who is now serving a sentence for the murder of former ANC Youth League leader Sindiso Magaqa, and obtained a statement from him.
Adams is further alleged to have visited former Political Killings Task Team member Sergeant Bonginkosi Dlamini to obtain a statement from him.
Dlamini is currently serving a 17-year sentence after being convicted of accepting a R120,000 bribe to interfere with evidence in the 2018 murder case of ANC branch leader Thulani Nxumalo in KwaNdengezi.
At the time, Dlamini was the investigating officer in Nxumalo’s murder case.
The State’s case is that Dlamini accepted the bribe from Sibongile Ndlovu, the wife of Felokwakhe Ndlovu, who was subsequently convicted of Nxumalo’s murder and is serving a life sentence.
Sibongile Ndlovu is also serving a 17-year sentence for bribing Dlamini.
His appeal against his conviction and sentence was recently dismissed by Magistrate Muntukayise Khumalo.
Adams denies the allegations against him. The matter was postponed to October 16 for a pre-trial conference.
