Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis urges cellphone signal jamming to disrupt Pollsmoor Prison gang networks

CapeTalk and 702's Mandy Wiener chats to Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below:

"Instead of trying to uncover who is running these smuggling rings, just block the cellphone signals for goodness' sake."

- Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mayor - Cape Town

Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald has reportedly responded positively to a letter by Hill-Lewis, who has called for urgent action to block cellphone signals at Pollsmoor Prison. 

ALSO READ:'Not enough to just jail criminals': CPT Mayor calls for blocking of cellphone signal at Pollsmoor

Hill-Lewis's request follows a disturbing incident in Bishop Lavis, where a city contractor abandoned a road project after receiving a life-threatening call from an inmate. 

He explains that the caller, allegedly a known underworld figure, warned the contractor to leave the site immediately.

"I said to the police, 'How is it possible that a well-known gangster who is in prison for serious crimes can still be running an extortion ring from inside Pollsmoor?' And they laughed. They said this is extremely common...Correctional Services takes away all their cellphones, and within a matter of a few weeks, they all have cellphones again because there's such a well-established smuggling ring inside the prisons. This is an outrageous situation; we can't have that."

- Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mayor - Cape Town

If the signal blocker is installed, Hill-Lewis pledges that the City of Cape Town will offer its support, including ensuring that nearby residents are not negatively impacted by any signal interference. Contraband cellphones allegedly enter prisons through a combination of corrupt staff, court interactions, service providers, and items hidden on prison grounds. 

ALSO READ: Phones in prisons: Inside help, broken scanners, and a failing system 

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.