Fadiel Adams (born 14 June 1976) is a South African

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and founder of the

National Coloured Congress The National Coloured Congress (NCC; previously the Cape Coloured Congress, CCC) is a South African single-issue political party led by Fadiel Adams, the founder of the Gatvol Capetonian Movement. The party was formed in August 2020 and focuse ...

Early life

Adams was the third of six children. His father was a builder and his mother a seamstress. Adams dropped out of school in Grade 11, and got involved in gangsterism and drugs. By age 30, he was homeless and addicted. After going clean, Adams worked as a tiler and plumber.

Politics

Adams got involved in politics in 2018 after the Siqalo riots in

Mitchells Plain Mitchells Plain is a large census designated sub-place located within the City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and situated about from the Cape Town city centre. It is one of South Africa's largest residential areas and contains multi ...

in 2018. After searching for his brother, who had been arrested, an interview shot him to prominence. In June 2018, Adams co-founded "Gatvol Capetonian", an organisation which described itself as "a group of gatvol ed upCapetonians who are sick of racist B.E.E. policies, poor service delivery and crime". In 2020, Adams founded the Cape Coloured Congress and was elected to the

Cape Town City Council The City of Cape Town (; ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of 4,772,846. History Cape Town first received local self-government in 1839, wit ...

in the

2021 South African municipal elections The 2021 South African Municipal Elections were held on 1 November 2021, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It was the 6th municipal election cycle held in South Af ...

. In 2023, the party renamed itself the

, intending to contest the

2024 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa on 29 May 2024 to elect a new National Assembly (South Africa), National Assembly as well as the Provincial legislature (South Africa), provincial legislature in each of the Provinces of South Africa, ...

. The party won two seats, with Adams elected to national parliament. During February and March 2023, Adams made derogatory remarks about

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town (; ) is a Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that forms the metropolitan municipality (South Africa), local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of ...

Manager Lungelo Mbandazayo, during

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Live broadcasts. The South African Equality Court ruled that Adams' comments were racially offensive, unfair

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

, and

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. Adams was ordered to apologize to Mbandazayo as a result. On 3 July 2025, the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests found Adams guilty of breaching parliament's ethic code following a nine-minute video which he shared on Facebook in February 2025, in which he made derogatory remarks against the

Mayor of Cape Town The mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), Metropolitan Municipality. The mayoral position w ...

Geordin Hill-Lewis Geordin Gwyn Hill-Lewis (born 31 December 1986) is a South African politician who is the Mayor of Cape Town. A member of the Democratic Alliance (South Africa), Democratic Alliance, he was elected mayor in November 2021. Hill-Lewis attended Edge ...

, a female member of the Democratic Alliance and the DA as a party. The committee's report recommended that Adams be reprimanded, suspended from parliament for 15 days, and have his parliamentary salary deducted over the period. Adams apologised to parliament on 23 July 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Fadiel 1976 births Living people Politicians from Cape Town National Coloured Congress politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 2024–2029