Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

Politics

Politics, South Africa, Maverick News

Guns and the National Coloured Congress vs DA — what is happening in Cape Town’s council?

Guns and the National Coloured Congress vs DA — what is happening in Cape Town’s council?
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis at The Gathering: Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians)
Suné Payne
By Suné Payne
2 Jun 2025
Facebook
3
In a council sitting, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis showed an image of National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams holding a gun, which has prompted the latest in a back-and-forth between the party and the DA.

The National Coloured Congress (NCC) has claimed Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis “crossed every ethical line” by showing a picture of its leader, Fadiel Adams, holding a gun during a council meeting. 

On Friday, 30 May, the NCC – a party with origins on the Cape Flats – released a statement claiming the mayor “crossed every ethical line” by using images that potentially depict Adams as a “violent gangster”. The party also said the photos were taken out of context and that they were taken during a private shooting range trip.

Adams is a former construction worker who became a councillor in the city after the 2021 municipal elections. He is currently an MP, after the party gained two seats in the 2024 general elections. 

A statement released by the party’s Cape Region called the use of images a “desperate attempt” to discredit the NCC. “This was not just politically immature. It was dangerous, defamatory and deeply revealing,” read the statement, issued by Eben Muller, the party’s regional interim committee organiser. 

The party claimed that “instead of engaging the real issues facing coloured communities, the Mayor chose to use racial stereotypes and propaganda to smear a respected leader who has stood up for the people of the Cape Flats”. 

The NCC went further: “This is the face of a DA that is crumbling under pressure. A party so threatened by accountability that it resorts to lies and character assassination.” 

NCC Geordin Hill-Lewis Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis at The Gathering: Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians)



In response, Hill-Lewis told Daily Maverick: “The NCC wouldn’t know an ethical line if they smashed into it at 100km/hour… Far from irresponsible, I think we have a duty to show the public what they get up to: parading with guns like they’re big gangsters, while we are working day and night to get guns off of our streets.” 

He continued: “When someone tells you who they are, believe them.” 

A recap: the motion of no confidence 


Last week, during a City of Cape Town council meeting, the NCC served a motion of no confidence against the mayor – the first such attempt of the Hill-Lewis administration. This was defeated spectacularly, with News24 reporting 138 councillors voting against it, 46 in favour and one abstaining. 

The NCC’s councillor Anastasia Davids tabled the motion over several issues, including that the mayor “repeatedly provides irrelevant, evasive or meaningless answers to questions posed in Council, failing to uphold transparency and accountability”. 

Other issues include the ongoing saga with Malusi Booi and claims around which police official the mayor met during the saga of police investigations into current and former mayoral committee members. 

During his time to respond to the motion, Hill-Lewis hit back repeatedly with: “You can’t trust anything the NCC says.” 

Watch the session related to the motion: 




But why did Adams have a gun in his hand? 

During his speaking time, reacting to the motion, Hill-Lewis showed the full council images of Adams and NCC city councillor Nasmie Jacobs, both appearing to be holding guns.  

Hill-Lewis spoke about a time that the NCC became upset because he referred to them as a “gang”. In the video, which the mayor posted on social media, the DA caucus is heard shouting “gangs” as Hill-Lewis asked who threatened business owners, flaunted their “gangster credentials on social media” or attempted to extort them. He then listed these actions as what the NCC did.

Through clapping from the DA caucus, Hill-Lewis said: “If you don’t want to be called a gang, don’t act like a gang.” 

Daily Maverick was told by Muller that the images were taken out of context, that they were taken during a private shooting range trip and he had no idea how they circulated. 

On Friday, the NCC said: “While the DA spends millions trying to sanitise its image, it shows open contempt for the lived reality of coloured communities. The Mayor had no visuals to show the blood on Cape Flats pavements, the bodies piling up in gang crossfire, or the raw sewage running through backyards. He had no images of overcrowded classrooms or hungry children. Just one mission – to humiliate a man who speaks the truth.” 

But what is going on here?


Since it entered the city council in 2021 the NCC (previously known as the Cape Coloured Congress) has been a vocal critic of the DA-run municipality. The party has seven seats in the 231-seat council and is the fifth-largest party in the council.

The party has been a critic of not only the city’s political governance, but of its administration. In 2024, the Equality Court ruled that Adams’s social media posts specifically aimed at city manager Lungelo Mbandazayo were racially offensive, and ordered him to apologise as well as undergo sensitivity training. Adams had referred to Mbandazayo as “from the Eastern Cape”. 

Earlier this year, Adams laid charges against DA leader Helen Zille over claims she knew about an impending raid at the Cape Town office of mayoral committee member JP Smith. She denies this and claims Adams had been posting on social media about the police raid. 

The DA and the NCC both have sway in the vote-rich Mitchells Plain, where both enjoy a lot of support. And in the run-up to 2026, the Cape Flats will be tightly contested once again. 

The NCC said on Friday: “NCC stands with President Adams and every resident who is tired of being labelled and lied to. The people see through the DA’s desperate tactics. And they will respond at the ballot box.” DM

Categories:

Tags: