Hundreds of prison officials involved in contraband smuggling face music

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has taken action against hundreds of its officials implicated in contraband smuggling, with many already facing disciplinary consequences, including dismissal. 

DCS National Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale was speaking at a media briefing on Monday on the outcomes of the 2025/26 Festive Season Security Operations, commonly referred to as Operation Vala, which involves the monitoring and tracing of parolees by a multi-agency team, including Municipal Police and the SA Police Service. 

“Thus far, we have administered 312 cases, 266 were finalised, with those officials being disciplined. Some of them were actually dismissed,” Thobakgale said. 

“We are still administering 30 cases, and they will get results as we continue. These are independent processes that we do not, as a department, interfere with.” 

Thobakgale highlighted that the department employs various strategies to prevent illicit goods from entering the facilities.

“For instance, you have contraband that is brought in by members of the public who visit. Every weekend we have visits for sentenced offenders. Every day, the remand detainees receive visits. That is a risk. We also have our own members who smuggle,” Thobakgale explained. 

“But also for this contraband to be detected and to be stopped, we need to employ or deploy equipment that is high-tech to be able to detect. We are continuing to roll out this equipment but at the moment, we do not have the financial capacity to have this equipment in each and every correctional facility.

“Hence, we are relying on our own members to detect and stop this contraband from making it into our correctional facilities. The officials who are involved or who are found to have aided and abetted this type of illegal activity, they get disciplined and most of them actually get fired for participating in these illegal activities.” 

Thobakgale explained that members of the public who attempt to bring illegal items into correctional facilities during visits are detected, apprehended, and have criminal cases opened against them. These individuals then become part of the offender population within the facilities.

Correctional officials found to be involved in contraband smuggling face similar consequences. They are reported to the police, arrested, have criminal cases opened against them, and subsequently join the offender population. 

“We have always been making a call to members of the public, including our own officials, that they should desist from partaking in activities that are linked to smuggling contraband into correctional facilities because it leads to one outcome,” Thobakgale said. 

On the outcomes of Operation Vala, Thobakgale said a total of 5,592 searches were conducted across correctional centres nationwide.

"Search operations required repeated and sustained deployments. As a result, officials responsible for security participated in multiple operations over the period. Consequently, these operations cumulatively involved 59,310 correctional officials, reflecting the same members being deployed in multiple security operations.” 

He said the department is encouraged by these outcomes, which show improved institutional capacity to intercept and remove illicit items that threaten safety, security, and stability in correctional centres. 

The commissioner said intensified searches yielded significant results, highlighting the scale of attempted smuggling and the effectiveness of departmental interventions.

Officials reported:

• 8,063 cell phones confiscated nationwide 
• 3,144 sharpened objects (weapons) removed 
• More than 46kg of loose dagga seized (plus thousands of dagga slopes and blades) 
• Significant mandrax tablet seizures, notably 1,012.5 in the Western Cape and 199 in the Free State/Northern Cape, suggest organised smuggling networks 
• R102,726.07 in South African currency was confiscated 
• Small quantities of foreign currency were seized, along with R400 in counterfeit South African notes in the Free State/Northern Cape region 

Cape Times