By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) have issued a J50 warrant of arrest for the National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader and MP Fadiel Adams on charges of fraud and defeating the course of justice.
Police allege Adams interfered with the investigation into the 2017 murder of ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Sindiso Magaqa.
Magaqa was ambushed at Ibisi Village in uMzimkhulu in July 2017, along with two councillors, Jabulile Mzizi and Nontsikelelo Mafa, and their driver. The other three survived the attack.
Magaqa was gunned down for exposing corruption in the local municipality.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said officers are in possession of a J50 warrant for Adams’ arrest.
“The warrant relates to serious allegations that he interfered with ongoing investigations into the murder of the late ANC Youth League leader, Mr Sindiso Magaqa,” Mathe said.
She said investigators had found that Adams interfered with a convicted hitman at a sensitive and advanced stage of the probe.
Mathe said police had made extensive efforts to locate Adams, including visiting multiple addresses linked to him.
She said arrangements were made with his attorney for him to hand himself over on Monday at Cape Town Central Police Station, but he did not do so.
Adams was also scheduled to appear in a KwaZulu-Natal court on Monday but failed to appear, Mathe said.
“Despite numerous attempts by SAPS to make contact with his legal representative, Adams has not made himself available to police, “she said.
Adams on Sunday made a litany of accusations against the SAPS and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi after he claimed that members of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) stormed a house he previously owned in Mitchell’s Plain.
Adams claimed that this unit produced no search warrant, no warrant of arrest, and pointed rifles at a woman, assaulted a startled 12-year-old boy, and traumatised an entire family while searching the wrong house.
He said that he has reached out to Acting Minister Firoz Cachalia and also the new Acting Police Commissioner, Major General Puleng Dimpane, but has not heard anything back from them.