Fadiel Adams vs “The cult of Mkhwanazi” - Explosive claims, secret files and power politics

National Coloured Congress leader and MP Fadiel Adams joins Alec Hogg in a fiery interview that takes aim at SAPS General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi - the man Paul O’Sullivan calls “South Africa’s new hero.” Adams says Mkhwanazi’s clean image hides dangerous politics, secret funds, and an internal police war that could shake the country’s justice system. From leaked documents to explosive allegations, Adams lays out why he believes “the cult of Mkhwanazi” is headed for exposure - and what it means for South Africa’s fight against corruption.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Watch here.Listen here.BizNews Reporter.Few interviews in recent memory have been as charged as this one. National Coloured Congress leader and Member of Parliament Fadiel Adams joined Alec Hogg on BizNews to hit back at what he calls “the cult of Mkhwanazi” - a growing mythology around Police General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who many South Africans have hailed as a national hero.But Adams, fiery and unflinching, says the country is being misled. What he laid out was not just a political disagreement but an accusation of rot running through the highest levels of South Africa’s police.“People are going to be disappointed in their new hero,” Adams warned. “The truth will come out.”The rise of a reluctant politicianAdams’s political journey is unconventional. Born just two days before the 1976 Soweto uprising, he jokes that anger at injustice was practically in his DNA. His path from activism to Parliament was fuelled by frustration.“We’ve had it with corruption, with nepotism, with cronyism. I just spoke louder than most,” he told Hogg, laughing. “Look at me now - I’m on BizNews while I’m getting my tyres fixed.”His “gatvol” movement struck a nerve in Cape Town, morphing into the National Coloured Congress, which now holds seats in Parliament. But with visibility came enemies - and now, Adams finds himself in the crosshairs of one of the country’s most powerful policemen.The moment Mkhwanazi turnedAccording to Adams, General Mkhwanazi singled him out indirectly during a press conference linked to the Madlanga Commission. “He didn’t mention my name, but he might as well have,” Adams said. “That was when I realised something was off. I knew what evidence I’d handed to the police, and it was damning. If you’re defending those accused of theft, I start to question your motives.” Adams insists he’s ready for whatever comes next. “I’m expecting to be arrested or charged. That’s fine. We’re prepared for this,” he said calmly. “But we won’t stop.”Documents, secrets, and a slush fundThe controversy began when Adams received a stack of documents pushed under his parliamentary office door. He says he didn’t steal or solicit them - but what they revealed, he claims, was explosive.“I didn’t break into any office or hack any system,” Adams said. “They were copies. I couldn’t verify them, so I took them straight to SAPS. I did what any responsible MP should do - I handed them to the police.”The documents, Adams says, expose corruption tied to SAPS’s Secret Service Fund - what he calls an “ATM for certain high-ranking people.” He questions how much of that money has flowed into special police units like the Political Killings Task Team in KwaZulu-Natal.“You give a hundred million rand a year to a team of thirty-nine members, and they’re living like rock stars,” he said. “Fifty-eight dockets for fifty-nine members? That’s one and a half dockets per person. What are they doing - solving crimes or eating oysters at the Oyster Box?”“Are we on the edge of a dictatorship?”Adams’s most explosive claims came when he questioned whether Mkhwanazi’s public behaviour crossed the line from policing into politics.He cited the general’s press conference where masked officers and military gear made for a dramatic backdrop. “He shouted ‘rise up, rise up’ while the president was out of the country,” Adams said. “Now, in Africa, coups happen when the president is away. Was it a show of force or was it sedition?”He accused Mkhwanazi of weaponising loyalty, painting critics as enemies of the state. “So only the general is right now? Everyone who questions him - journalists, prosecutors, even judges - are suddenly corrupt?” he asked.For Adams, this is about more than one man. “If we lose this battle, we lose the country,” he warned. “This is not about SAPS anymore. It’s about who controls the state.”From the Cape Flats to the corridors of powerThe interview took a personal turn when Adams reflected on his late friend Neil de Beer, the charismatic politician and former intelligence operative who died earlier this year.“Neil was my big brother,” Adams said softly. “He was honest, direct, and brave. He could’ve lived a comfortable life, but he chose to fight for people like me. How can I not love that story?”De Beer, he said, was among the first to confirm that the documents Adams received were “no surprise.” “He told me, ‘This has been going on too long.’ But he was sick then, and I didn’t want to burden him. This fight is for the rest of us now.”The state of SAPS — and a warning to the PresidentAdams’s concerns go beyond Mkhwanazi. He says the entire top structure of SAPS has collapsed. “We have provincial commissioners without top-level clearance. Some have fraudulent clearances. Some failed their vetting and are still in office,” he said. “The national commissioner, Fannie Masemola, must answer for this.”He claims at least five provincial police chiefs are operating without proper clearance, in breach of their employment contracts. “That’s paragraph four - you can’t hold that office without security clearance. But they’re still sitting there. Why?”Adams says the president must take notice before it’s too late. “We’ve got the Inspector General of Intelligence suspended this week, but Masemola is still there. You tell me why,” he said. “This isn’t incompetence anymore. This is capture.”The final wordAlec Hogg closed the conversation with a note that felt as much like a warning as a summary.“If what Fadiel Adams did was wrong - by handing those documents to the police - then we have to ask ourselves what in South Africa is right,” Hogg said. “Members of Parliament are supposed to ask hard questions. That’s how democracy survives.”Adams agrees, but he’s not hopeful about the short term. “South Africans must decide,” he said. “Do we want a democracy - or do we want a dictatorship in a police uniform?”

Fadiel Adams vs “The cult of Mkhwanazi” - Explosive claims, secret files and power politics

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