GAUTENG. – The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has seized cellphones, drugs and various other prohibited items during an urgent search at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria. The action follows after a video circulated on social media in which inmates can be seen dancing and playing music in the centre.
Singabakho Nxumalo, DCS spokesperson, says Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, DCS national commissioner, immediately ordered that the unit housing the inmates in question be searched. According to the department, five cellphones, three routers, a laptop, two bank cards, eleven chargers, three USB devices, sixteen packets of illegal cigarettes, five bags of dagga, 194 Mandrax tablets, two iron saws and various sharp objects were seized.
Internal disciplinary steps await inmates linked to the prohibited items, as well as those identified in the video. Their behaviour could also affect their correctional placement and privileges. The department is further investigating how the cellphone used to record the video and other prohibited items were smuggled into the centre. Any possible involvement or negligence by staff will also be investigated.
Thobakgale emphasised that no inmate or official will be allowed to undermine the discipline and safety of correctional centres.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
