Two officials stabbed at Pollsmoor prison as gang violence increases in South Africa

Parliament and the Public Servants Association (PSA) have urged the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to urgently review security protocols, address staff shortages, and take decisive action to curb the growing threat of violence in correctional centres.

This comes after another violent stabbing incident at Pollsmoor Correctional Centre, in Cape Town in the Western Cape, on 29 October 2025, which left two inmates dead, and several people, including two correctional officials, injured.

It is reported the DCS officials were attempting to intervene during a violent altercation between rival prison gangs when the attack occurred.

The PSA noted that this marks the second stabbing incident at Pollsmoor Correctional Centre in the past two weeks, highlighting an alarming escalation in gang-related violence in correctional facilities.

“The PSA continues to be extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of DCS officials who often find themselves caught up in these conflicts or even targeted during outbreaks of violence,” said the organisation.

“Correctional officials continue to operate under extremely dangerous and volatile conditions, often without adequate resources, inadequate staffing, and a lack of support to ensure their safety,” it added.

The Chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services, Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng, expressed concern over an increase in attacks in correctional centres, especially of offenders on officials.

The Chairperson said that during a recent committee oversight visit to St Albans Correctional Centre, inmates also stabbed an official, allegedly because they were not given the permission to speak to the committee.

 “This seems to be a trend now, a very worrying one as our facilities are already overcrowded with inmates, so the ratio of offender to official is high. It seems inmates are taking advantage of this fact,” said Ramolobeng.

She called on the department to fill all vacant funded posts, “especially those that can lead to more officials guarding the ever-increasing inmate population,”

“Furthermore, we call on all in the criminal justice system, to come up with strategies to lighten the load in our severely overcrowded facilities.”

“The department is after all at the tail end of the criminal justice system with no control over its population size,” she added.

National correctional services commissioner Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale condemned the attack, saying it was “unwarranted and deeply saddening, especially when lives are lost”.

The department extended its condolences to the families of the deceased and said it was taking necessary measures to ensure the safety and stability of the correctional environment.

It did not respond to further queries from Newsday.

South Africa’s overcrowded prisons

Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald recently told Parliament that only 36 of the 240 correctional facilities were at or below their approved capacity.

Overall, South Africa has 102,858 beds and 168,091 inmates, resulting in a national overcrowding rate of 61.85%.

The problem of overcrowding puts both inmates and security staff in these prisons at additional risk.

A report presented to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services identified chronic overcrowding as a significant contributor to unnatural deaths in prisons.

It found that there had been 156 unnatural deaths in correctional facilities over the past three years, 67 of which were suicides and 55 homicides.

To address the issue, Groenewald said that the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster established an Overcrowding Task Team Sub-Committee tasked with developing an Integrated Multi-Sectoral Strategy.

He said that his department is responsible for addressing overcrowding by transferring sentenced prisoners around the country.

On the other hand, the South African Police Service has been tasked with handling remand detainees, as they cannot be moved until sentencing.

Groenewald said in September that his department is implementing the bed space creation programme, which will see the construction of facilities to accommodate roughly 13,500 beds at prisons across the country.

“Two bed space creation projects are underway. One, the Burgersdorp Correctional Centre upgrade project in the Eastern Cape region, has been completed with an estimated bed space of 500,” he said.

“The second project, the construction of the Parys Correctional Centre upgrade in the Free State and Northern Cape region, is also anticipated to be completed in March 2026. These projects are funded.”

Over 80% of South African prisons are overcrowded