Ending gangsterism in South African prisons in South African prisons is being taken seriously through a prevention strategy that has seen a drop in incidents.

Answering a Parliamentary question asked by Gauteng Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Member of Parliament (MP) Thapelo Mogale, government of national unity (GNU) Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald said the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has implemented an eight point Gang Combatting Strategy.

Groenewald’s department is working with intelligence agencies by way of Cabinet’s security cluster, particularly its intelligence components, to address gangsterism in communities and prisons. Correctional Services, along with Defence and Military Veterans, Home Affairs, International Relations and Co-operation, Police and State Security sit on the Cabinet peace and security cluster.

Correctional Services, among others, is part of structures ranging from national and provincial joint operational and intelligence structures through to the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC), the anti-gang unit [presumably an SA Police Service (SAPS) unit] to community forums.

All prison inmates are profiled to identify gang members and high-risk prisoners on admission.

The Department of Correctional Services has developed and implemented needs-based programmes as part of a structured daily regime designed for inmates to “get out, stay out and keep out” of gangster related activities.

Internally, DCS officials are in addition to being screened and vetted, educated and trained on infiltrating gang operations behind bars, Mogale was told. He further heard DCS committees manage “security activities”. These include searching, “segregating” offenders and enforcing discipline.

As a further follow-up, monthly meetings analyse incidents, security breaches and compliance with security protocol.

The Department conducts security awareness to educate schoolchildren and community members of the danger of engaging in gang activities.

Groenewald added that the Department “has developed an information gathering and processing capacity in order to implement a virtual analytics environment linking collectors, exploiters, analysts, and stakeholders electronically to improve its response to and the management of gangs”.

These efforts are bearing fruit, with a downward trend in gang related incidents after the Department implemented its Gang Combatting Strategy. Incidents fell from 1 035 in 2014/15 to 792 in 2017/18, 732 in 2021/22, and 271 in 2023/24.