Crackdown at Odi Prison as inmates caught with contraband – SABC News
National Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale says they are stepping up efforts to improve leadership and tighten controls to keep contrabands out of prison facilities.
He was speaking to the media during a raid at the Odi Correctional Services centre in Mabopane, Pretoria, on Sunday night. Contraband, including dagga and cellphones, were recovered during the search operation.
Thobakgale says prison officers found to be colluding with inmates in smuggling contrabands into Correctional facilities will face consequences.
“There are officials that are going through disciplinary processes even here there are two officials that I’ve been suspended and that’s the management has been doing but we have identified that we need to come in and strengthen their head in dealing with contrabanding ensure that the centre you know it’s free from a legal substance and objects.”
Dagga, cigarettes, and cell phones were seized during the raid.
Thobakgale states that correctional services officers who are found to be on the wrong side of the law will face disciplinary action.
Calls for overhaul of Correctional Services
Meanwhile, prison rights activist, Golden Miles Bhudu, says that unless the Department of Correctional Services is completely restructured, issues of contraband and corruption in prisons will continue to be a major concern.
His comments follow a high-level raid during which officials uncovered hidden contraband, including dagga and cellphones, at Odi Correctional Services Centre in Mabopane, north of Pretoria.
Probihited items were found at ODI Correctional Center in Pretoria, Gauteng during a raid led by National Commissioner Thobakgale.
The Department of Correctional Services remains committed to maintaining safe and secure correctional centres. pic.twitter.com/fuj3BASFXQ
— The Department Correctional Services 🇿🇦 (@DCS_ZA) June 23, 2025
The planned operation, which took place on Sunday, was led by Correctional Services Commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale.
Bhudu says this was a publicity stunt to create the impression that the department is doing its job.
“They’ve run out of ideas; they simply are clueless and don’t know what to do. Every time they can raid them, they can assault them, they can even kill them but for as long as there isn’t any sustainable plan and idea how of this Department of Correctional Services must be demolished and being built from scratch, you will have every time national commissioner and the deputy minister running around like headless chickens.”
PODCAST | Raid uncovers hidden contraband at the Odi Correctional Services Centre: