How Gang Bosses Use Smuggled Phones To Order Hits And Run Drug Empires From Behind Bars

South Africa’s prisons are allegedly being used as command centres by organised-crime leaders who continue directing drug deals, extortion operations and violent attacks from behind bars.

The findings are contained in the October issue of the Western Cape Gang Monitor, which examines the influence of prison gangs, the movement of contraband and the alleged collusion between inmates and correctional officials.

The report’s findings come as the Madlanga Commission hears evidence that correctional facilities have become operational bases for organised crime.

In September 2026, national commissioner of correctional services Makgothi Thobakgale told the commission that prison and street gangs were increasingly working together to sustain illicit operations.

[do_widget id=super_rss_reader-3] –> –> He said prohibited cellphones were being used by incarcerated offenders to direct criminal activities outside prison.

Thobakgale said the devices were used “to direct criminal operations, coordinate drug distribution, orchestrate the intimidation or assassination of witnesses and officials, and facilitate fraud against members of the public”.

He further warned that gang activity did not stop when members entered the correctional system.

“When gang members and leaders enter the prison system, their activities ‘are extended to the correctional setting to the extent of smuggling and selling drugs [and], to some extent, eliminating people or witnesses… even when they are still inside… through communication mechanisms that they smuggle inside’,” he said.

The claims point to a serious weakness in the criminal-justice system: placing gang leaders behind bars may not disrupt their operations if they retain access to phones, money, outside foot soldiers and corrupt officials.

Cellphones are prohibited in South African correctional facilities, but large numbers continue to find their way inside.

In May 2026, Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald said 1,010 cellphones had been seized in Western Cape prisons during the 2025/26 edition of Operation Vala.

Operation Vala is an annual prison-security crackdown that has been conducted during the festive season since 2005.

Thobakgale had earlier announced that 8,063 cellphones were seized nationally during the same operation.

The devices provide gang leaders with a direct line to people on the outside. According to the report, gang members in several communities said prison-based leaders continued influencing territorial wars, assassinations and the day-to-day control of illicit markets.

One drug dealer linked to a gang in Hanover Park described how he allegedly communicated with incarcerated leaders.

“I just make a quick call [to imprisoned gang leaders]… I tell them what’s happening here in the area and who’s trying to deal in our turf, and we come up with a plan together to sort it out,” he said.

The account suggests that prison-based gang leaders may still receive intelligence from their networks and issue instructions about who is allowed to operate in a particular area.

Alleged influence over cocaine and assassinations

The report says incarcerated gang members’ influence is particularly visible in the drug trade.

In Saldanha Bay, prison gangs are alleged to have used their outside networks to exploit the expanding cocaine market, including by forming relationships with Colombian cartel members.

The alleged connections have contributed to an increase in cocaine dealing and illustrate how prison-based leadership can remain connected to international criminal markets.

Incarcerated gang figures have also allegedly used outside foot soldiers and hitmen to arrange assassinations.

One example cited in the report concerns George “Geweld” Thomas, a high-ranking member of the 28s who was sentenced in 2015 to seven life terms.

Phone numbers associated with Thomas were reportedly used to make thousands of calls while he was awaiting trial.

Thobakgale described Thomas, who remains incarcerated, as “the number one gang leader in South Africa, popularly known as ‘the Lord’”.

A 2022 court judgment reportedly identified Thomas as responsible for orchestrating a murder from prison. According to the account, the victim had also been incarcerated and was released after a gang member linked to Thomas paid his bail. He was then killed at a shebeen.

Thomas was never charged with that murder.

The report also highlights the danger faced by witnesses in gang-related prosecutions.

During the trial of alleged Khayelitsha extortion kingpin Yanga “Bara” Nyalara, two of the three State witnesses were killed. The third allegedly survived two assassination attempts.

The case collapsed and Nyalara was released.

The example raises questions about whether witness-protection measures are sufficient when alleged criminal networks retain communication channels from inside prison.

If witnesses can be intimidated or killed before they complete their evidence, even major police investigations can fail in court.

A correctional official at Pollsmoor described the movement between prison and the streets as “intentional incarceration”.

The term refers to gang members allegedly getting themselves arrested so they can connect with imprisoned leaders and obtain information or instructions.

Not every arrest is intentional, but the report says the movement forms part of a practice known in gang culture as “stimela”, meaning a train that transports people between prison and the outside world.

The system allegedly allows people to be summoned to meetings with senior gang leaders in prison to discuss internal governance, the targeting of rivals and new drug or firearm supply lines.

The movement also creates opportunities for contraband to enter correctional facilities.

The report describes prisons as captive markets where drugs, weapons and money are traded at prices often higher than those outside.

A member of the 27s gang said: “The prison is like a fruit and veg market. Everyone is part of that ‘smokkelary’ (smuggling routine).”

Mandrax, also known as methaqualone, allegedly sells for substantially more inside prison than on the street.

“Mandrax (methaqualone) can cost R30 on the street, but that button (tablet) will cost R100 in prison,” one gang member said.

Ecstasy and methamphetamine are also reportedly sold at more than double their street prices.

The higher profits create an incentive for drugs to be smuggled into prisons, with gang leaders allegedly relying on outside members and corrupt warders to move the contraband.

A member of the 27s gang claimed that money was regularly exchanged with prison officials.

“There’s a constant exchange of money between the prisoner population and the prison warders or prison administration… Those ‘mense’ (people) will easily open doors that should not be opened – if you pay them money.”

Thobakgale told the Madlanga Commission that 137 correctional officials were implicated in contraband smuggling during the 2025/26 financial year and faced disciplinary processes.

In August 2026, a warder was arrested at Goodwood Prison after allegedly being found with 600 Mandrax tablets, 100 grams of tik and 300 grams of dagga, or cannabis.

South Africa’s prison-gang system is dominated by the Number gangs — the 26s, 27s and 28s.

The groups operate through structured councils and follow a code that provides members with identity, status and rules governing behaviour.

Historically, there was a strict separation between prison gangs and street gangs. Entering prison meant leaving street-gang rank behind.

The report says that separation began to break down as the drug trade became more profitable during the 1980s. Wealthy street-gang leaders allegedly began purchasing rank within the Number gangs after entering prison.

This blurred the line between the prison and street criminal worlds.

Street components of Number gangs have since emerged, including the 27s under the late William “Red” Stevens and the 28s allegedly under the leadership of Ralph Stanfield.

The report also points to extortion being coordinated from prison. In one case, a road-construction contractor allegedly received a call from a gang member at Pollsmoor demanding that he abandon a project in Bishop Lavis because the site belonged to the gang.

The incident gained public attention after Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said extortion syndicates were operating from Pollsmoor and called for signal jammers.

The Department of Correctional Services has considered using cellphone signal jammers to prevent prisoners from communicating with outside criminal networks.

In 2024, Groenewald asked National Treasury to fund the project.

However, in February 2025, Thobakgale told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services that the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa had indicated the department did not have the authority to make such a request because it was no longer part of the government’s security cluster.

In August 2026, Groenewald’s office said legislative and regulatory obstacles had limited the viability of signal jammers.

The department subsequently shifted its focus towards detecting cellphones and other contraband.

The report argues that incarcerating gang leaders will have limited impact if they can continue running criminal operations and profiting from an internal drug market.

It points to Italy, where a specialised detention framework was introduced for mafia leaders.

Under the framework, the justice minister can isolate certain inmates in separate facilities, restrict visits, correspondence and contact with other prisoners, and permit judicially authorised monitoring and recording of visits.

South Africa’s approach relies largely on standard correctional facilities and the ability of officials to prevent cellphones, cash, weapons and drugs from entering.

The report recommends stronger screening and search operations, investigations into alleged corruption and collusion, and lifestyle audits of correctional officials where appropriate.

It also says police must target gang leaders through intelligence-led investigations that result in successful prosecutions.

Without a new approach, the report warns, gang leaders may continue commanding operations from behind bars while prison officials struggle to control the contraband economy.

The evidence before the Madlanga Commission and the findings in the Western Cape Gang Monitor suggest that South Africa’s prisons are not merely places where criminals are held. In some cases, they may also be functioning as meeting points, markets and command centres for the very criminal networks the justice system is trying to dismantle.

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