By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has concluded investigations into a series of serious incidents at three Western Cape correctional centres during 2025, including stabbings of officials, deaths of inmates and a deliberate escape enabled by impersonation and operational failures, national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said on Monday.
He said that, 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 handled by an independent legal entity external to Correctional Services”.
“The nature of these incidents, combined with the province’s high levels of crime and the alleged orchestration of criminal activity within our correctional centres, necessitates the implementation of extraordinary measures,” he said.
Thobakgale made the statements during a media briefing while giving an update on the outcomes of DCS’s Operation Vala over the festive season.
He said the first investigation related to the stabbing of four correctional officials “and the subsequent unnatural death of an offender Simphiwe Celise” on 7 August 2025, at the Oudtshoorn Correctional Centre.
He said the events followed a DCS-led operation, joined by SAPS on 6 August, after “intelligence on contraband proliferation” was received.
During the search operation, “a number of offenders actively resisted lawful instructions, barricaded themselves inside certain cells, and displayed increasingly volatile and aggressive behaviour,” leading to heightened tension, altercations and “the use of force to restore order”.
On 7 August, during a routine unlock, “a group of inmates launched a coordinated and vicious attack on correctional officials, during which four officials were stabbed”.
The subsequent investigation found Celise “played a leading role in the attack on correctional officials,” and that he “subsequently died following physical altercations with officials,” with the death “classified as unnatural”.
Thobakgale said the situation could have been mitigated if management had anticipated retaliation, given the “overt warning signs” the previous day.
He said management at area and centre levels failed in command and control, citing inadequate risk assessment, insufficient coordination of operational responses and a lack of decisive leadership to stabilise the unit once the initial search had concluded.
He said investigators identified serious failures, including “non-compliance with use-of-force prescripts, unprocedural reporting and systemic breakdowns in oversight”.
Thobakgale said disciplinary action would be instituted against implicated officials, managers and medical personnel, and that offenders involved in the stabbing would also face disciplinary processes.
Thobakgale said the second investigation concerned the release of inmate Thembalethu Inganathi Daba in September 2025. He said the investigation found it “was not an administrative error but a deliberate escape facilitated by impersonation and operational failures”.
He said Daba “posed as another inmate scheduled for court, bypassed identification procedures, misrepresented himself before the magistrate and was released on warning.”
The incident was only detected during a routine roll call and Daba was re-arrested 12 days later.
Thobakgale said the investigation identified failures in inmate supervision, advance availability of court lists, management oversight and the functionality of biometric systems. He added: “Criminal and disciplinary processes are underway, alongside corrective measures to prevent recurrence.”
The third investigation focused on the stabbing of two correctional officials and the deaths of three remand detainees on 29 October 2025.
He said the incident followed an unauthorised departure of several officials from the unit, resulting in a serious breach of security controls. The investigation found the three inmates, “who are now deceased,” initiated an attack on two officials who acted “in self-defence”.
However, Thobakgale said the investigation also found that some responding officials “applied force outside the prescripts”. He said shortcomings had been identified in “risk assessment processes, gang management protocols, and the supervision of inmates”.
Disciplinary action was being instituted against implicated officials, and against supervisory and security management for dereliction of duty. Corrective measures include reclassification of inmates, strengthened gang management and tighter controls on inmate labour.
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