More than 100,000 cellphones were seized from South African correctional facilities between 2023 and 2026, with some Department of Correctional Services officials allegedly involved in smuggling the devices into prisons, the Madlanga Commission has heard.
Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale told the commission on Thursday that authorities had confiscated 102,720 cellphones during the period.
The seizures also included 158,137 cellphone accessories, 59,788 sharpened objects, drugs worth R657,801.71 and more than R1 million in cash, highlighting the scale of contraband circulating inside the country’s prisons.
Thobakgale said the illicit trade in contraband had created an underground prison economy that was contributing to criminal activity inside correctional facilities and maintaining links between inmates and criminal networks outside prison.
He told the commission that some officials within the department were contributing to the smuggling of contraband.
“The principal enabler of continued criminal activity in prison is the illicit economy that has developed around contraband including mobile phones, money market, cash, narcotics, weapons and alcohol,” Thobakgale said.
He described the smuggling networks as having characteristics associated with organised crime, involving the procurement, payment, transportation and delivery of contraband.
According to Thobakgale, cash-send and other money-market systems were increasingly being used to facilitate transactions.
“This smuggling bears the hallmarks of organised crime,” he said.
The commissioner said the networks generated proceeds that helped sustain criminal syndicates while strengthening relationships between gangs operating inside correctional facilities and those outside prison.
He also warned that gangs had developed internal power structures within prisons, creating security threats that could extend beyond correctional facilities.
Thobakgale said mobile phones posed a particular security threat because they enabled inmates to maintain contact with people outside prison despite the devices being prohibited inside correctional centres.
He told the commission that inmates could use the phones to coordinate criminal activities, including drug distribution, intimidation and the targeting of witnesses and officials, as well as fraud against members of the public.
The commissioner said the types of drugs found in prisons reflected the criminal economies operating around individual correctional facilities.
Cannabis was more prevalent in areas where it was widely produced, while drugs including methamphetamine, methaqualone, heroin-based substances and crack cocaine were also circulating according to local demand.
Thobakgale further highlighted the presence of established gang structures, including the Makaota gang, which he said dated back to the 1940s and had links to extortion, contract killings and the mining sector.
He also pointed to cross-border links involving Lesotho and Botswana, as well as connections with illegal mining networks.
The commissioner referred to contract-killing networks in other parts of the country, including so-called “hammermen” in the Western Cape and izinkabi in KwaZulu-Natal.
Thobakgale also told the commission that some correctional officials had allegedly assisted inmates to escape from custody.
He cited the case of Edward Madiba as an example.
His testimony has since concluded before the Madlanga Commission, which is investigating allegations surrounding criminality and corruption in South Africa’s law-enforcement and security structures.
The testimony has put the spotlight on the role of prison officials in enabling the movement of contraband and the ability of incarcerated criminals to maintain operational links with networks outside correctional facilities.
By a Correspondent/Agencies
