A number of mobile phones, drugs, local and foreign money, sharp weapons and other items were seized.
This was expressed by the Minister of Correctional Services, Dr. Pieter Groenewald, in response to a question from the EFF Member of Parliament, Ms. Nontando Nolutshungu. These illegal items in the prisons were seized during the Operation Vala campaign for the 2025/2026 financial year.
Groenewald lamented the lack of staff as the reason for these inappropriate items being found in prisons.
“More than 8,000 mobile phones were found in different prisons in the country in the 2025/2026 financial year, under the Operation Close campaign. Gauteng has the highest number of seized mobile phones as 2,321, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, with 1,855 seized, and Western Cape with 1,010. KZN has the highest number of drugs seized from prisons,” he said.
He said 499 sharp weapons were seized from KZN prisons, marijuana as well as more than R11 000.
“More than R102 000, the money seized during this time. We also found foreign currency of Meticais, Pula, Kwacha and Maluti. The Eastern Cape is the place where a lot of sharp weapons were seized.”
He said among the seized drugs were mandrax, tik, crystal meth and others.
“From December 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026, there have been various incidents of fighting and harming inmates, visitors who were caught smuggling drugs as well as misbehaving employees. In Pollsmoor prison, a prisoner was released illegally, and a female employee who was smuggling a mobile phone was also caught. In these incidents, measures have been taken,” he said.
He mentioned the challenges in the infrastructure and the lack of workers as other issues in preventing things that should not come in.
“We cannot strengthen security by installing CCTV cameras because of the budget cut. We have a problem with the lack of staff when there are people on the streets.”
He complained about leaving some workers because they are retiring, some are resigning and some are dying, which is why there is a huge shortage.
“During the holidays, we struggle because few people are working. We also failed to fully implement the program to fight gangs in prisons due to financial challenges.”
He said that despite these obstacles, they were able to assign a team in charge of emergencies to the centers that they identified as the ones with the most reported incidents.
“We have even intensified the search of people at the entrance and exit. This way we are trying to strengthen security in the institutions.”