PRETORIA - National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams has conceded that he was not honest with the Madlanga Commission about receiving emails notifying him to appear before it.
Adams appeared before the commission on Wednesday, where he was first questioned about his claim that he had never received its emails.
The commission sent the MP a Rule 3 notice in October, requiring him to appear before it. At his first appearance on 11 August, Adams said he was not aware of the notice until April this year.
He claimed his Parliamentary laptop had not been working and that he could not send or receive emails. Parliament disputed the claim, saying it was not aware of any technical problems with Adams' laptop.
Speaking to eNCA, Adams accused Parliament of defaming him, saying he had evidence that his laptop had not been working for months.
On Wednesday, Commission Chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga challenged Adams over his statements to the commission and in the media.
Adams also told the commission that he receives a large volume of emails and, given his workload, does not always have time to go through all of them.
"There is one so-called Madlanga Commission," Madlanga told Adams.
"It is hard for me to believe that you would forget about the communication from the so-called Madlanga Commission," he added.
READ: The laptop, the MP and the emails: Fadiel Adams' IT woes
After a lengthy exchange, Adams conceded that he had not been truthful when he said he had not seen the commission's communication. He said he had in fact seen the emails but had forgotten to respond.
This was despite him responding 11 days after the first email.
"Emails are not my strongest point," Adams told the commission.