With prison overcrowding at 155% and corruption by warders rampant, jailhouses have become hubs of crime. Dishonest warders help smuggle banned items and money, while gangsters tighten their grip from behind bars. Information that has recently surfaced in Parliament, combined with issues linked to the South African Police Service, provides a much grittier insight into the country’s prison problems.

Cellphones, alcohol, smoking pipes, drugs and even tattoo machines are passing through South Africa’s overcrowded prisons as inmates and corrupt officials collude to form a key part of organised crime networks.

Most of this has long been known, with prison-concocted crimes usually exposed by gang incidents or high-profile court cases.

An example is the matter involving convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester, who faked his own death behind bars and escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre in 2022.

Then there is the case of Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for their 1997 attack and rape of Alison Botha in Gqeberha. Earlier this month, their parole was cancelled – and it was reported that Du Toit had cellphone access while in jail.

Now, information that has recently surfaced in Parliament, combined with issues linked to the South African Police Service, provides a much grittier insight into the country’s prison problems.

These range from people moving to previously vacant land around jails, unafraid to trespass, to inmates still having cellphone access to outside collaborators, thereby fuelling crime everywhere. Gangsters are also among those working for the Department of Correctional Services.

Overcrowding
The department has 243 correctional centres and, according to its statistics, as of January this year, South Africa’s prison population stood at 166,030.

But there was approved bed space for only 107,346 individuals. This means the country’s prisons are overcrowded at 155% capacity. To deal with this, 100 new prisons with about 500 beds each, or 50 new 1,000-bed prisons, need to be built.

This week, Parliament’s Correctional Services Portfolio Committee held inspections at prisons in KwaZulu-Natal.

It found the Kokstad Medium Correctional Centre’s kitchen was operating with a 2020 noncompliance certificate, bringing food safety standards into question.

However, the eBongweni Super Maximum Correctional Centre bucked the trends, boasting a “contraband-free status”.

‘No quick fixes’
In response to Daily Maverick questions this week, Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald provided some details – and a disclaimer.

“It is important to note that there are no quick fixes to these systemic issues, particularly due to the financial constraints that impede the installation of advanced technology and the necessary expansion of infrastructure and security upgrades,” said Groenewald.

He detailed some actions that were working.

“Raids and enhanced security measures have been prioritised, resulting in a significant increase in contraband discoveries over the past year,” he said.

“This surge is directly attributable to the intensified frequency of raids conducted at correctional facilities.”

Several disciplinary actions and charges had been instituted against individuals.

Earlier this month, Parliament heard that in the 12 months ending in January, 64 officials of the Department of Correctional Services had been “involved in smuggling contraband”. Of those, 16 were dismissed, 11 were criminally charged with corruption and 37 were still being investigated.

About 145 offenders were charged in relation to contraband and were stripped of certain privileges.

Forty-four visitors to prisons were “suspended” after contraband was found on them, meaning their visiting rights were halted. Their cases were also referred to police, which means they could also end up in prison – the very place they tried to sneak goods in. 

Groenewald, in his response to Daily Maverick, said: “The presence of contraband is linked to serious criminal activities both inside and outside correctional facilities, which obstructs our efforts to rehabilitate inmates effectively.

‘Uniformed gangsters’

In Parliament on 18 February, critical prison problems related to smuggling were described. National Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said that, in terms of contraband entering prisons, “the biggest contributor is our members”.

Staff were therefore not allowed to take bags and cellphones into jails. Instead, they were provided with two-way radios, but they still tried to sneak cellphones in.

Thobakgale said the department had 38,000 employees.

Though he acknowledged that honest officials were working in dangerous conditions, he said that there were “even gang members … in uniform”. These individuals were the focus of high-level police investigations.

Thobakgale outlined plans to crack down on criminality in jails, including searching arrested people in police holding cells to prevent them sneaking items into prisons. But he made it clear: “The extent to which those plans are effective has to do with our own members doing the right thing.”

Drugs, tattoo machines and 41,000 cellphones
A recent reply to a Parliamentary question about smuggling hinted at what was ending up in prison cells. It revealed that over 12 months, 411 smoking pipes, four official (presumably Correctional Services) uniforms and six tattoo machines had been confiscated.

A presentation to Parliament by the department, dated 18 February, elaborated, saying it was “at war fighting the influx of contraband being smuggled into its facilities”.

“Both inmates and officials are employing sophisticated methods to smuggle illicit items, posing significant security threats.”

The presentation showed that over a year ending this January, the following was confiscated from South Africa’s jails:

41,853 cellphones. Signal jamming was being looked at as an option to prevent prisoners using the devices, but, as it stands, Correctional Services is not classified as a security department so it is not allowed to implement jamming. This issue was being addressed with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
11,894 sharp objects, including knives.
267.6 litres of alcohol.
More than 1,000kg of drugs.
More than R200,000 in cash, but the amount of money moving around was believed to be much higher as cash did not change hands often, with money-transfer apps used instead.
According to the presentation, the Eastern Cape had the highest number of cellphone confiscations, followed by Gauteng.

“Meanwhile, the Western Cape reported the most confiscations of sharpened objects and drugs,” it said.

From the most recent police crime statistics, Daily Maverick has established that these three provinces recorded the highest number of gang killings in the country.

Between September and the end of December last year, 14 gang murders were recorded in the Eastern Cape, 16 in Gauteng and an overwhelming 263 in the Western Cape, which retains the ominous title of South Africa’s gangsterism epicentre.

Reintegration and crime prevention
Shootings are persisting in the Western Cape. In one incident, suspected Junky Funky Kids gang leader Ashley Philips was shot dead on 30 January outside the Brackenfell police station, where he was apparently signing documents related to his release from custody. His murder sparked fears of retaliatory shootings.

And there were broader concerns about the release of parolees contributing to gang skirmishes. Residents of several areas were worried about this.

Earlier this month, Daily Maverick asked the Department of Correctional Services whether many parolees had been released recently in some Western Cape areas experiencing an increase in shootings. In response, spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said: “We do not conduct mass releases, even under special remission of sentences.”

Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut told Daily Maverick that crime-fighting strategies were based on the needs of specific precincts and various factors were considered, including data from intelligence. “One of these initiatives is to determine the impact that released prisoners have on an area and to be mindful of their reintegration into [their] communities,” he said.

 “Crime prevention and crime detection are not conducted in silos and platforms are in place where information is shared with other relevant departments.”

‘Geweld’ and the 28s gang

However, there have been some disturbing issues relating to prisoner movements. Around the middle of last year, it emerged that 28s gang boss George Thomas, known by the alias Geweld (meaning “violence”), had been transferred from a prison in KwaZulu-Natal to one in Helderstroom in the Western Cape.

This was highly controversial because about a decade ago, Thomas was sentenced to multiple life terms behind bars for various crimes, including murders, carried out in the province. While he was detained and during his trial, held in the Western Cape, several state witnesses were killed.

Thomas’s name subsequently cropped up in an unprecedented 2022 Western Cape Division of the High Court judgment. It warned that evidence in a gang-related case suggested that 28s gangsters may have gained access to the provincial police’s senior management and crime-fighting plans.

Prison murder plot
The judgment also referred to a plot to get someone jailed and murdered.

“It was planned with a policeman to arrest a person who was lured to be at a place where there would be drugs,” the judgment said. “The plan was to get the person into prison so that he could be killed.”

According to the judgment, that person was in fact arrested and jailed, but was not murdered because of “security challenges” at the prison. Instead, he was later killed in a shebeen – allegedly on Thomas’ orders.

Last year, Groenewald intervened in the Thomas prison transfer, seeing to it that he was instead sent to the Kgoši Mampuru II Correctional Facility in Pretoria.

At the time, Groenewald said: “This intervention followed an outcry from community leaders due to the high risk [that Thomas’] presence would possibly pose in communities of the Western Cape…

“The department will also urgently investigate the matter thoroughly to identify the reasons for the prisoner’s irregular movement,” he added.

Daily Maverick understands that the investigation into Thomas’ transfer is still continuing.

Inadequate infrastructure
Meanwhile, controls around many prisons in South Africa are also a concern. Earlier this month, Yanga Wayithi, an inmate serving six months at Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison for theft and trespassing, managed to escape while doing maintenance work with a team there.

He was rearrested the next day, 12 February, and it was announced that security protocols at Pollsmoor were being reviewed.

During the pivotal 18 February prisons meeting in Parliament, the DA’s Kabelo Kgobisa-Ngcaba brought up the issue of fences. A recent response to a parliamentary question of hers showed that 110 correctional services facilities did not have adequate perimeter fencing.

(Groenewald, in his reply to Daily Maverick’s questions, pointed out that “the insufficient perimeter fencing surrounds the office and staff quarters”.)

The response to Kgobisa-Ngcaba also pointed to a dismal financial situation: “The infrastructure budget allocation for the department has been decreasing over time and is estimated to decrease by a further R1.1-billion between 2024 and 2027.”

‘Somebody is going to die’
Speaking in Parliament last week, Kgobisa-Ngcaba said she had visited the prison in Worcester in the Western Cape.

“They show you where the fence was cut. People come in, scale the building and go deliver contraband inside the prison courtyard… Without perimeter fencing I’m not sure that you’re going to win this fight,” said Kgobisa-Ngcaba.

“Beyond contraband, somebody is going to die. One day they are going to smuggle in a gun, and someone’s going to die. So, drugs are the least of your problems.”

The DA’s Janho Engelbrecht added to what she said about the prison in Worcester: “It’s the first time in my life where I see that people want to break into prison and not out of prison, to take drugs in.