More than 100,000 cellphones seized from prisons since 2023

More than 102,000 cellphones have been seized from South African correctional facilities since 2023, with Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale telling the Madlanga Commission that some were allegedly smuggled in by departmental officials.

Thobakgale said 102,720 cellphones and 158,137 cellphone accessories had been confiscated between 2023 and 2026, Kamogelo Moichela reports for African News Agency. Authorities also seized 59,788 sharpened objects, drugs valued at R657,801.71 and more than R1 million in cash.

Testifying on Thursday, Thobakgale described contraband as a key component of an illicit prison economy that facilitates criminal activity and strengthens links between inmates and criminal networks outside correctional facilities.

He said some Department of Correctional Services officials had contributed to the smuggling of contraband, while organised networks operated through procurement, payment, transportation and delivery.

According to Thobakgale, mobile phones pose a particular security threat because inmates can use them to maintain contact with criminal networks outside prison, including to coordinate drug distribution, intimidation, witness attacks and fraud.

He said gangs had also established internal power structures in correctional facilities, with the contraband trade reflecting the criminal economies surrounding individual prisons.

Thobakgale cited the Makaota gang, which he said dates back to the 1940s and has been associated with extortion, contract killings and links to the mining sector, including cross-border connections with Lesotho and Botswana and more recent links to illegal mining.

He also referred to contract-killing networks elsewhere, including “hammermen” in the Western Cape and izinkabi in KwaZulu-Natal.

Thobakgale previously told the commission that some correctional officials had allegedly helped inmates escape, citing Edward Madiba as an example.

The commissioner has since concluded his testimony before the commission.