By Mapaballo Borotho
- The Department of Correctional Services says ageing prison infrastructure is contributing to the smuggling and concealment of contraband.
- A surprise raid at Durban’s Westville Correctional Centre uncovered drugs, weapons, cellphones and other prohibited items.
- Authorities say inmates and officials found to be involved in smuggling will face legal action.
Illegal operations inside South African prisons continue to raise concerns, with contraband such as drugs, weapons and cellphones regularly being uncovered during searches.
Over the years, Correctional Services officials have disrupted several illegal operations at correctional facilities across the country, prompting questions about how such activities continue inside institutions meant to rehabilitate offenders.
The National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Makgothi Thobakgale, says ageing infrastructure is one of the factors enabling inmates to conceal drugs and other prohibited items.
Thobakgale was speaking to the media on Thursday evening, 23 July 2026 following a surprise raid at Durban’s Westville Correctional Centre.
The operation targeted the facility’s Medium A and Medium B sections, where inmates who are classified as high risk are being held.
Authorities confiscated a large quantity of contraband, including drugs, weapons, cellphones, cash, and televisions, during the raid on Thursday.
Among the items seized were knives that had allegedly been concealed inside the facility.
The operation followed the discovery of drugs hidden in plumbing pipes and other compromised parts of the prison during a two-day intelligence-led search last week.
Thobakgale warned that inmates and Correctional Services officials found to be involved in smuggling contraband would face the full might of the law.
“We were able to identify places where these drugs were being hidden. Because many of our facilities are quite old, inmates and in some cases officials take advantage of vulnerable areas of the infrastructure.
If there are holes in buildings or compromised plumbing pipes, those are the places where drugs are often stashed. We have been able to identify and address some of those areas as part of these operations,” he said.
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