President of the National Coloured Congress (NCC), Fadiel Adams, said his party’s top five priorities, should it be voted to power in the May 29 elections, will be employment, crime, education, health and land restitution.
“We are here for the return of coloureds to their homes, the land where they were evicted. We are here for land restitution,” he said.
“We want a guarantee in the new South Africa that a coloured child too has a place in the sun. We want to be included in every sphere of government,” said Adams in an interview with the “Cape Times” as part of a series of stories featuring premier candidates of various parties.
Although the NCC has not named him as a premier candidate, Adams said: “We are not thinking of announcing a premier candidate, but I am the face of the party.”
Adams described himself as “a child from a multi-racial, cultural family”.
He has no qualms about calling himself a school drop-out having been expelled while in matric.
“I am an artisan, a father, an entrepreneur and a community activist who loves fairness and justice above all,” he said.
Adams, who hails from Lavender Hills, said he was lucky that he was not a statistic due to gangsterism and drugs in the community where he grew up.
“I managed to claw my way out,” said Adams, a former drug addict and gangster. “I have been clean from drugs for 18 years now.”
Adams explained he was drawn into politics by accident after an interview he gave outside the Mitchells Plain court gained viral attention on social media because of controversial remarks he made about people from the Eastern Cape in the Western Cape.
“That 60-second interview went viral. When we were done, we decided to open a political. No planning was involved, we just formed the party,” he said. “It was not popular but it resonated with the people.”
The Equality Court found his posts on social media were racially offensive when he referred to City of Cape Town manager Lungelo Mbandazayo as being “from Eastern Cape.”
He has since apologised. “I have respect for the courts,” Adams said.
He said he started the NCC without any money.
“I am the only person, perhaps, in the country that started a political party without belonging to a political party. I started the party with no money. The party registration was paid for by the members.”
Adams stated that during both the 2021 local government elections and the upcoming 2024 provincial and national elections, NCC members personally contributed funds to ensure the party's presence on the ballot.
The party will be among the 29 contesting seats in the Western Cape, 35 contesting province to national list and 52 in the national to national list.
The NCC is fielding 13 candidates on each of the ballot papers for Western Cape legislature and the two lists to Parliament.
Adams said his party was aiming to obtain at least five or six seats in the Western Cape provincial legislature and three or four in Parliament.
“For a party with no money, it is a big deal but it is attainable. We feel it can be done.”
Adams said they had approached the 2021 local government elections as underdogs but came out with seats in two municipalities.
NCC has seven seats in the City of Cape Town and one at Saldanha Bay Municipality.
“We have heard that you need R1 million to spend in order to get a seat.
Here we are we are the fourth biggest party in the City of Cape Town. We came out with eight seats,” he said.
Adams said they were unfazed by a lack of publicity due or lack of resources.
“We have nothing. We don’t have posters, sweaters and food parcels. We campaign on facts and the work we do.
“They (other political parties) come to hand out food to feed communities and write off their municipal debts and connect water. It is our everyday work we have been doing. We are in the streets everyday.”
Adams said he stood up to the DA following theft and corruption allegations in connection with R500 million emergency tender for repairing staircases on council flats.
“We laid criminal charges and eight people are in court. No party can claim to have done that against the DA, which speaks of itself as presiding on clean audits. We have exposed them as liars,” he said.
“Our party stands for coloureds who are systematically abused by the government. We are directing all our efforts and resources towards the coloured community,” he said.
Adams said the coloured community has for far too long not had a voice of its own.
“The coloureds never had a formation that stands up for it,” he said.
He listed some of the party’s campaigns, including pushing for coloured people to be among the first to be considered for low-cost houses, “shutting down” when services are not provided and closing businesses that don’t hire coloured people.
Adams said his party has been well-received by the community.
“Coloureds are loving the party, but there is no such thing as one party loved by all,” he said pointing out that President Cyril Ramaphosa was not liked by all.
Adams added that while they were doing well on their campaign, it was their goal to see the voice of the coloured community being taken seriously and things could not be left to the ANC and the DA to take up their issues.
“They speak about coloured but they have no idea about our lived reality,” he said, adding that skewed black economic empowerment was a disadvantage to his constituency.
Cape Times