The details emerged in a parliamentary reply to a question by DA MP Janho Engelbrecht. He asked correctional services minister Dr Pieter Groenewald for information on contraband searches conducted at correctional facilities over the past three years, the items confiscated and officials or other personnel implicated in misconduct.

Groenewald said one Kimberley official was dismissed following misconduct involving dealings with offenders, recorded on 5 August last year. Another official resigned following misconduct linked to dagga dealings recorded on 21 May that year. In Upington, one official was dismissed for dagga dealings, while disciplinary proceedings against another remain pending.

Correctional facilities in the Free State and Northern Cape conducted 23,145 searches during the 2024/25 financial year and another 20,315 during 2025/26. A further 8,005 searches were conducted during the first quarter of 2026/27, bringing the combined total for the two provinces to 51,465.

Across the country, 128,476 searches were conducted over the three financial years. These resulted in the confiscation of 102,720 cellphones,158,137 cellphone accessories and 59,788 sharpened objects. Substances weighing a combined 657,802 grams were also seized, along with more than R1m in cash.

One official at Rooigrond Medium A is currently under investigation after three cellphones were discovered during searches. The wider Rooigrond correctional complex near Mahikeng has also recently come under scrutiny following the escape of an inmate serving a 20-year sentence for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Kgomotso Madiba was later rearrested in Brits and appeared in the Molopo District Court earlier this month. He was remanded in custody, with the matter postponed to 1 October for further investigation and the possible consolidation of charges.

Concerns about contraband have also previously surfaced at Tswelopele Correctional Facility in Kimberley, where 38 cellphones were confiscated during a raid in June last year. DA MP and select committee on security and justice member Ofentse Mokae said two of the phones exposed alleged dealings between inmates and staff involving drug smuggling.

“While the DA notes the subsequent precautionary suspension of staff members, the situation underscores the lack of necessary control within the prison environment,” said Mokae.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi cvs

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