National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams being pulled by a police officer during his arrest in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
Fadiel Adams allegedly visited the suspected hitman, Sibusiso Ncengwa, in Sindiso Magaqa's murder case to persuade him to change his confession statement to implicate the Crime Intelligence head, Major-General Dumisani Khumalo.
This is according to a high-profile source in the top police management, who is involved with Adams' arrest.
The convicted hitman, Ncengwa, confessed to pulling the trigger that eventually took Magaqa’s life in 2017. It also emerged that the Crime Intelligence bosses knew about the plot and did nothing to prevent it.
The police source said the real reason for the leader of the National Coloured Congress (NCC) and MP’s visit to Durban Westville Prison to speak to the suspected hitman was to lobby him to depose an affidavit that it was Khumalo, as the head of the Political Killing Task Team (PKTT), who must be held accountable for Magaqa’s murder. The source further revealed that Adams is secretly working with certain Crime Intelligence officials to get rid of Khumalo.
“While everyone is puzzled at why Adams, all the way from Cape Town, would have an interest in a political murder case that took place in KwaZulu-Natal, we know and fully understand his interests; however, very soon the public will know when we reveal his real interests in this case. Arresting and convicting the hitman was our phase one; phase two will shock people,” said the source.
Furthermore, the source said there was no way that Khumalo could be held accountable for Magaqa’s murder because he joined the investigation of the case in 2018, alongside Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, when he came to act as a provincial commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal.
He further stated that the police officer who testified in the Madlanga Commission as Witness E was the one who handled the Crime Intelligence project in KwaZulu-Natal, where members were sent to infiltrate the heist gang.
He said, unfortunately, those members ended up being hired as hitmen, and Witness E alerted the Crime Intelligence bosses of 2017 about the plot to kill Magaqa, but they did nothing to stop it. During his testimony, Witness E said two weeks before Magaqa’s murder, he informed his superiors.
Adams’ attorney, Bruce Hendricks, was contacted, and after he was briefed about the allegations, the allegations against his client were put in writing; however, he had not yet responded by the time of publication.
Adams was arrested on Tuesday and is facing charges of defeating the ends of justice for interfering with the case.
It is alleged that he flew to Durban and was whisked away by police to the Westville Correctional Facility to meet the hitman.
Police are questioning his interest in doing so and accused him of interfering with the investigation, as it is still ongoing. Police also have an issue with the police escort he was provided by the SAPS.
During his appearance at the Ad Hoc Committee probing the allegations of political interference in the police work, Mkhwanazi said Adams was escorted with blue lights.
Adams denied that he was escorted by SAPS, arguing it was the Durban metro police. He also defended the escort, saying he was on official duty to interview the accused hitman.
He is scheduled to appear in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za