Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale: Outcomes of Operation Vala 2025/26 and Findings of Investigations into Security Incidents in the Western Cape Region

Ladies and Gentlemen Good morning.

Today's media briefing forms part of the Department's ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability and public confidence in the correctional system. The briefing focuses on two critical matters. Firstly, we present the outcomes of the 2025/26 Festive Season Security Operations, commonly referred to as Operation Vala. Secondly, we outline the findings of investigations into serious security-related incidents that occurred at three correctional centres in the Western Cape during 2025.

Part one: Festive season security operations

Over many years, DCS has implemented Operation Vala, joined by the South African Police Service (SAPS) as a targeted festive season security intervention, commencing on 1 December and concluding in the month of January. The operation is designed to strengthen safety and security within correctional centres during a period characterised by increased movement, heightened visitations, elevated risks of contraband smuggling and escapes.

In addition to the above, Operation Vala extends to the monitoring and tracing of parolees, joined by Municipal Police Departments and SAPS. This multi-agency approach underscores a coordinated and integrated effort within the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster.

While Operation Vala has consistently delivered positive results in ensuring safe and secure facilities, Correctional Services recognised that in certain respects, the operation had become routine and resource-intensive. This necessitated a renewed approach aimed at increasing impact, effectiveness and accountability. As a result, the 2025/26 Operation Vala represented a decisive shift in intensity, coordination and management oversight.

For the first time, the operation was assertively driven at Management Area level, supported by heightened senior management involvement and the expanded deployment of officials. This decentralised but coordinated approach enabled more frequent, intelligence-driven and comprehensive searches, significantly strengthening operational outcomes across the system.

During the 2025/26 Festive Season Security Operations:

• A total of 5,592 searches were conducted across correctional centres nationwide.
• Search operations required repeated and sustained deployments. As a result, officials responsible for security participated in multiple operations over the period. Consequently, these operations cumulatively involved 59,310 correctional officials, reflecting same members being deployed in multiple security operations. Noting staff shortage issues that we have explained overtime.
• The Gauteng and Western Cape Regions recorded the highest operational activity, jointly accounting for 56% of all searches conducted nationally.

The Department is encouraged by these outcomes, which demonstrate an enhanced institutional capacity to intercept and remove illicit items that threaten safety, security and stability within correctional centres.

Escapes

• No escapes were recorded during Operation Vala, from 1 December 2025 and to the month of January 2026.

Confiscation of Illegal Items

The intensified searches yielded significant results, underscoring the scale of attempted smuggling and the effectiveness of the Department's interventions.

Cell Phones

• A total of 8,063 cell phones were confiscated nationwide.
• Gauteng emerged as the primary hotspot, accounting for 2,321 seized devices, highlighting the persistent challenge of mobile phone smuggling within correctional centres.

Sharpened Objects (Weapons)

• A sum of 3,144 sharpened objects were removed from facilities.
• The Eastern Cape and Free State/Northern Cape regions recorded the highest volumes of seized sharpened objects, indicating elevated security risks in these regions.

Drugs

• More than 46 kilograms of loose dagga were seized, in addition to thousands of dagga slopes and blades.
• The Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West, as well as KwaZulu-Natal, contributed the largest share of the bulk drug seizures.
• Significant quantities of Mandrax tablets were also confiscated, particularly in the Western Cape (1,012.5 tablets) and Free State/Northern Cape (199 tablets), pointing to organised smuggling networks.

Cash and Currency

• A total of R102,726.07 in South African currency was confiscated.
• Gauteng (R37,193) and the Eastern Cape (R28,379) recorded the highest cash recoveries.
• Small quantities of foreign currency were seized, along with R400 in counterfeit South African notes in the Free State/Northern Cape region.

Notably, while the Western Cape conducted the highest number of searches, it yielded relatively low cash recoveries compared to regions such as the Eastern Cape. This disparity highlights differing patterns of illicit activity, including cashless illegal operations and reinforces the importance of intelligence-driven searches.

Systemic Pressures During the Festive Season Period

Operation Vala was implemented under conditions of significant systemic strain. During the festive season, the inmate population exceeded 170 739, far surpassing the Department's approved bed capacity of approximately 107 067. This level of incarceration represents the highest population recorded in recent years, and has placed immense pressure on infrastructure, staffing, security management and budget, compounded by reduced court activity during the period.

Sustained Commitment to Security

Although Operation Vala officially concluded in the month January 2026, the Department has not relaxed its security posture. The operation has demonstrated improved capability at Management Area level, and this capacity is being maintained and strengthened as part of ongoing, year-round security operations aimed at creating safer, contraband-free correctional environments.

This work is coordinated through the National Operations Centre (NOC), which serves as the central nerve centre of the correctional system in South Africa. The NOC is responsible for the real-time collation and analysis of operational information and reports from correctional centres across the country. It maintains continuous engagement with centres and coordinates operational responses.

Part two: Findings of investigations

DCS has concluded comprehensive investigations into serious incidents that occurred at correctional centres in the Western Cape during 2025. These investigations were conducted in terms of the Correctional Services Act, 111 of 1998, with the objectives of establishing facts, determining accountability, restoring public confidence and ensuring appropriate corrective and disciplinary action.

Oudtshoorn Correctional Centre

The first investigation relates to the stabbing of four correctional officials and the subsequent unnatural death of an offender Simphiwe Celise on 7 August 2025. This was a DCS led operation, joined by the SAPS on 6 August 2025, following intelligence on contraband proliferation.

During the execution of the search operation, a number of offenders actively resisted lawful instructions, barricaded themselves inside certain cells, and displayed increasingly volatile and aggressive behaviour. These actions led to heightened tension within the unit, resulting in several altercations between officials and offenders and necessitating the use of force to restore order.

On the morning of 7 August 2025, during the routine unlock, a group of inmates launched a coordinated and vicious attack on correctional officials, during which four officials were stabbed. The investigation established that offender Simphiwe Celise played a leading role in the attack on correctional officials. Celise subsequently died following physical altercations with officials, and his death was classified as unnatural.

The investigation also found that this situation could have been mitigated had management anticipated the strong likelihood of retaliation, given the overt warning signs displayed by inmates on the previous day. It further established that management at both Area and Centre levels failed to exercise effective command and control of the operation. There was inadequate risk assessment, insufficient coordination of operational responses, and a lack of decisive leadership to stabilise the unit once the initial search had concluded.

Serious failures were identified, including non-compliance with use-of-force prescripts, unprocedural reporting and systemic breakdowns in oversight. Disciplinary action will be instituted against implicated officials, managers and medical personnel, while offenders involved in the stabbing will face disciplinary processes also.

Erroneous Release at Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility

The second investigation concerned the release of inmate Thembalethu Inganathi Daba in September 2025. The investigation established that this was not an administrative error but a deliberate escape facilitated by impersonation and operational failures.

Inmate Daba posed as another inmate scheduled for court, bypassed identification procedures, misrepresented himself before the Magistrate and was released on warning. The incident was detected only during a routine roll call. He was re-arrested twelve days later. The investigation identified failures in inmate supervision, advance availability of court lists, and management oversight, including the functionality of biometric systems. Criminal and disciplinary processes are underway, alongside corrective measures to prevent recurrence.

Stabbing of Officials and Deaths of Remand Detainees at Pollsmoor

The third investigation focused on the stabbing of two correctional officials and the subsequent deaths of three remand detainees on 29 October 2025. The incident followed an unauthorised departure of several officials from the unit, resulting in a serious breach of security controls.

The investigation established that the three inmates, who are now deceased, initiated an attack on the two officials, who acted in self-defence. However, it further found that some of the officials who responded to the incident applied force outside the prescripts. The investigation also identified significant shortcomings in risk assessment processes, gang management protocols, and the supervision of inmates.

Disciplinary action is being instituted against implicated officials, as well as supervisory and security management for dereliction of duty. Corrective measures include reclassification of inmates, strengthened gang management and tighter controls on inmate labour.

Stabilising the Western Cape Region

The investigation outcomes as outlined, along with the deployment to stabilise Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility, were carried out under an intervention authorised by the Office of the National Commissioner in consultation with the Ministry. The resulting recommendations and stabilisation measures underscore the continued need for sustained intervention.

Given the spate of incidents and the prevailing instability in the Western Cape, I, as the National Commissioner, have recommended to the Minister that criminal and disciplinary matters be administered independent and external to the Western Cape Region. The nature of these incidents, combined with the province's high levels of crime, gangsterism and the alleged orchestration of criminal activity within our correctional centres, necessitates the implementation of extraordinary measures.

Accountability and Corrective Action

These matters have been made public because they directly affect public safety, human rights, staff security and the integrity of the correctional system. Transparency is essential to maintaining public trust and demonstrating accountability. The Department will institute disciplinary proceedings against implicated senior managers and officials, address systemic weaknesses, and ensure that correctional centres are managed in a lawful, ethical and professional manner.

We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the Ministry for its continued leadership and guidance. We also acknowledge and commend the JCPS Cluster for consistently fulfilling its mandate, providing effective and coordinated services that uphold the safety and security of our communities.

This concludes our statement. I thank you.

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