The successful deployment of drones to help secure South Africa’s borders and curb illegal crossings over the Easter holiday stands as further testament to the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) vision of becoming a digital-first institution for enhanced service delivery and tackling pressing challenges through innovation.
With the use of sophisticated drones, the Border Management Authority (BMA) in collaboration with the SAPS and SANDF, successfully intercepted more than 1,000 undocumented migrants attempting to enter South Africa illegally and confiscated illicit goods over the Easter period, BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato told Eyewitness News after the long weekend.
“Without drones, this work becomes very expensive and ineffective. We would be patrolling blindly, not knowing if we would encounter people,” Masiapato said during a media briefing at Beitbridge Border Post between South Africa and Zimbabwe and the busiest the busiest border crossing into South Africa.
The BMA, a single integrated authority mandated to secure and manage South African borders, officially deployed the drones during the busy Easter period after a successful pilot project over the 2024/2025 festive season. The pilot project resulted in a 215% increase in the successful prevention of illegal border crossings during the period.
The drone roll-out as part of the Easter Operational Programme, was done in collaboration with the DHA. The department, in its capacity as the custodian of South African citizens’ identities, plays a crucial role in the BMA’s operations, especially in areas like immigration and border security.
Dr Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, said at the launch of the BMA’s Easter Operational Plan earlier in April 2025 the new devices is concrete proof of the fruits that follow when DHA commits itself to using technology in smarter and more effective ways.
He said the cutting-edge new drone and body worn camera technology, which feeds to the BMA Operational Centre, is a revolutionary development in border control, helping to prevent illegal crossings and corruption.
According to the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) the South Africa-Zimbabwe corridor is one of Africa’s busiest. The most common route from Zimbabwe to South Africa leads from Zimbabwe’s southern Matabeleland region through Beitbridge.
SIHMA says smugglers often exploit migrants, charging exorbitant fees ranging from $100 to $300 for an illegal crossing, often with no guarantee of the migrants’ safety.
‘Eyes in the Sky’
The Minister described the drones as among the most advanced in the country, calling them the BMA’s “eyes in the sky” for day and night surveillance.
The drones can launch in 15 seconds, reach a speed of 43 km/h, has thermal visual detection, long range zoom capabilities enabling the drone to see almost 2 km into the distance, are capable of operating under all weather conditions, and the advanced camera can detect and record movement. It also boasts autonomous pathfinding, meaning it can navigate its own environment despite obstacles. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to programme the devices to, for instance, look for a certain kind of vehicle or group of people.
“We can now do surveillance we were not able to do before, even if we had more human resources. This is how digital technology helps us tackle our challenges,” Schreiber said.
Unwavering commitment to digital transformation
This is yet another step in the DHA’s digital transformation journey.
In the past few months, the department upgraded its digital verification system which it believes will dramatically reduce waiting times whenever a client needs to verify their identity with the department to obtain a social grant or open a bank account.
The DHA also launched of a dedicated eRecruitment platform and instituted a new rule to deliver the outcomes of visa waiver applications digitally via email to applicants.
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