Inside South African prisons: How inmates use cellphones to continue crime behind bars

Seasoned specialist investigator Mike Bolhuis has expressed no surprise following news that  Vusumuzi “Cat” Matlala, the man widely accused of being at the heart of police infiltration and capture of law enforcement apparatus in South Africa, was found with a mobile phone during a raid at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre in Pretoria.

IOL has previously reported that on Tuesday night and into the early hours of Wednesday, Correctional Services national commissioner Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale led an extensive raid and search operation at the correctional centre in Pretoria, including its high-security C-Max section.

The raid on Tuesday and Wednesday followed another blitz conducted on Sunday, during which officials found Matlala with a mobile phone.

Commenting on the revelations that Matlala has been connected from behind prison walls, Bolhuis told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that many of the criminal gangs terrorising South Africans are being run from prisons.

“That has always been (the case). The people in prisons just carry on with their crimes. They are just in smaller spaces," said Bolhuis.

“Some of the biggest gangs are operating in prisons. Vusi will very soon be in control of that whole prison, because the prison system is rotten as well, completely to the core. The new minister is making as much headway as possible. It has unfortunately gone too far."

On Wednesday, Thobakgale said nearly 800 were searched during the extensive inspection he led at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre, which houses some of South Africa's notorious criminals.

“We found more than 105 cellphones. I am saying this because the tally before we went B-Max and C-Max was at 104, and at B-Max we found one cellphone. At C-Max we did not find any contraband at all," said Thobakgale.

The majority of the cellphones were found at the prison section referred to as “local”, where more than 2,000 offenders are housed in communal cells.

Thobakgale said the authorities also found sharp objects and drugs, including crystal meth, mandrax, and dagga.

Regarding the source of the contraband, Thobakgale said prisoners often bring the illicit goods after they attend courts outside the prison.

“We search them, but some of them are able to hide this contraband in their bodies. We utilise body scanners, but we have a few of those in the country," he said.

He said South African prisons, which are more than 200, are reliant on only 17 body scanners.

Some of the contraband is brought to inmates by their family members during visits, while Thobakgale also conceded that some unscrupulous correctional officers also bring the contraband.

jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za

IOL News