Drones with night-vision cameras and bodycams are joining government's fight to shore up South Africa’s ports of entry.
The Border Management Authority (BMA) has launched four new unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to assist ground teams with curbing the illegal entry of undocumented foreigners into South Africa.
According to home affairs minister Leon Schreiber, who spoke at a launch event in Pretoria on Tuesday, the project follows a December 2024 pilot conducted in partnership with the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development. Data gathered from the pilot informed the BMA’s decision to invest in a full-fledged drone programme.

“What we saw was a 215% increase in the number of attempted illegal crossings by undocumented persons that were prevented. We even were able to showcase thousands of instances where the use of these drones actually led to apprehensions directly,” said Schreiber.

As we roll out more and more cutting-edge technology, there are fewer and fewer places to hide for criminals
Added to the aerial capability introduced by the drones, BMA ground teams will also wear body-worn cameras to aid in their duties. According to Schreiber, 40 bodycams have been launched alongside the four drones.

“The drones are equipped with some of the most advanced night vision cameras in the world, including thermal detection technology. They are powered by artificial intelligence, allowing the devices to recognise and lock onto heat sources, moving people or vehicles. They can travel at speeds of up to 43km/h and are capable of operating in remote rural areas, without access to GPS, and even underground,” said Schreiber.
Digitisation efforts at the home affairs department are moving at a rapid pace. Last month, Schreiber announced “comprehensive upgrades” to the Automated Biometric Identity System (Abis), the system banks, insurance companies and government departments use to verify identity when providing services to citizens.

Digitisation
The move is part of a broader government systems overhaul, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his state of the nation address in February, which aims to provide citizens with access to government services “at a touch”. Ramaphosa said the home affairs department is central to government’s digitisation drive, with initiatives like a planned digital ID system “at the heart” of an improved, digitised government service.

As part of this initiative, home affairs – along with the BMA and Government Printing Works, last week signed a pact with Sars. Sars has improved its revenue collection through investments in data science and artificial intelligence tools. Schrieber said home affairs will leverage these capabilities to bring proposed new digital services to life. These include:
• The launch of an electronic travel authorisation system to digitalise and automate immigration procedures to eliminate inefficiency and fraud;
• The integration of home affairs services with banking platforms to expand access to smart ID and passport services to “hundreds of bank branches” as well as to banking apps;
• The creation of an option to select secure courier delivery of documents that eliminates the requirement to collect documents at home affairs’ offices;
• The upgrading of the movement control system at all ports of entry; and
• The introduction of smart IDs for naturalised citizens and permanent residents.

Speaking at the drone launch on Thursday, Schrieber reiterated the importance of digitisation to improving service delivery in South Africa and emphasised his department’s commitment to digitising its operations, too.

“Our message to would-be illegal immigrants and smugglers is clear: for the first time ever, we are now watching the border during the day, we are watching at night, we can see your body heat wherever you try to hide, and we will catch you. As we roll out more and more cutting-edge technology, there are fewer and fewer places to hide for criminals who undermine our national security,” said Schreiber.

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The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, today officially opened a new state-of-the-art office located in Tygervalley Shopping Centre in Bellville, Cape Town.
Like the Mitchells Plain office that the Minister opened on Saturday, the new Tygervalley office features upgraded technology that integrates a camera at the counter, eliminating the need to queue for photos. This new office will also only accept prior bookings, ensuring that there are no queues. The office served its first clients in the presence of the Minister this morning.
Minister Schreiber said: “We are guided by our vision to deliver Home Affairs @ home. This means that we are gradually bringing services closer to the people, including through our presence in malls. This process will eventually culminate with Home Affairs services also being offered in many more bank branches, and through online devices.”
Minister Schreiber concluded: “The people of Bellville and surrounds will now experience the meaning of our commitment to deliver dignity for all. Every day, we are making progress, together.”

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The inconvenient truth is that none of SA’s economic woes can be pinned on immigrants, documented or not.
When in doubt, blame the foreigners. It worked for Donald Trump in his successful bid for the US presidency, and it’s working just fine for SA politicians eager to distract from their own failures.

All you need to do is take a struggling economy, throw in a few national identity crises, add in some populist grandstanding, and you’ve got yourself a fine scapegoat. Immigrants, especially the undocumented ones, are now the plug-in explanation for everything from unemployment to crumbling infrastructure and failing healthcare.

Across the Atlantic Trump and his disciples mastered this craft. “Build the wall!” became more than a slogan — it’s a movement, a rallying cry for what Hillary Clinton called “a basket of deplorables”, convinced that America’s problems could be solved by keeping out desperate people fleeing worse situations.
Now, executive orders flow freely. The latest masterpiece? Trying to scrap birthright citizenship, because nothing says “land of the free” like rewriting the constitution to banish babies from the “home of the brave”.

The result? An America where immigrants — especially those who happen to have the wrong skin tone — are automatically assumed to be criminals and freeloaders. That the economy depends on immigrant labour? Irrelevant. That most violent crime is committed by native-born citizens? Inconvenient.
SA politicians have not been tardy in taking a page from the global populist playbook. The scapegoat of choice isn’t just any immigrant — it’s the “illegal” foreigner, the faceless menace allegedly plundering resources and stealing jobs.

This brings us to the saga of illegal mining, the latest excuse for a xenophobic free-for-all. In the abandoned shafts of mining ghost towns in the North West province we had thousands of miners — most of them undocumented immigrants — trapped underground, starving and, according to reports, resorting to cannibalism.
What did our esteemed leadership propose? Sending help? Rescue? Involve the community? Of course not. Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni demanded that they be “smoked out.” Because nothing screams good governance like leaving desperate people to die in a hole.

Meanwhile, mineral & petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe, never one to let a populist opportunity go to waste, labelled the miners “economic saboteurs”. A curious accusation considering the real economic sabotage has been happening in boardrooms and government contracts for decades. But why confront systemic failure when you can blame foreigners?

Nothing new here; remember Idi Amin? Distract the public with an “enemy” while dodging accountability. The more dire the crisis — crime, poverty, unemployment — the louder the anti-immigrant rhetoric. The inconvenient truth is that none of SA’s economic woes can be pinned on immigrants, documented or not. The housing crisis? A result of decades of poor planning and corruption. The unemployment rate? A casualty of economic mismanagement. Crumbling infrastructure? A direct consequence of looting on a grand scale.

But pointing fingers at immigrants is easier than admitting failure. It’s also more effective. People love a simple narrative, and “foreigners are the problem” is far easier to digest than “we’ve systematically mismanaged the country for years”.
If you thought this was just an SA or American problem, think again. Ask Elon Musk, whose platform, X (known as Twitter before he had a branding epiphany) has become a global breeding ground for misinformation and hysteria masquerading as “free speech”. Whether it’s election fraud conspiracies, transphobic tirades or good, old-fashioned immigrant bashing. Musk’s free speech crusade has turned his social media empire into a safe space for the world’s most unhinged ideas.

But back at the ranch, sitting on sofas stuffed with dollars, President Cyril Ramaphosa might ask himself at what point democracy becomes a hollow shell of itself. When a government scapegoats its most vulnerable instead of protecting them? When populist fearmongering replaces fact-based policy? When leaders openly dismiss humanitarian crises because they involve the “wrong” kind of people?
When profit trumps the struggles of ordinary folk, I remember Marikana.

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm

The inconvenient truth is that none of SA’s economic woes can be pinned on immigrants, documented or not.
When in doubt, blame the foreigners. It worked for Donald Trump in his successful bid for the US presidency, and it’s working just fine for SA politicians eager to distract from their own failures.

All you need to do is take a struggling economy, throw in a few national identity crises, add in some populist grandstanding, and you’ve got yourself a fine scapegoat. Immigrants, especially the undocumented ones, are now the plug-in explanation for everything from unemployment to crumbling infrastructure and failing healthcare.

Across the Atlantic Trump and his disciples mastered this craft. “Build the wall!” became more than a slogan — it’s a movement, a rallying cry for what Hillary Clinton called “a basket of deplorables”, convinced that America’s problems could be solved by keeping out desperate people fleeing worse situations.
Now, executive orders flow freely. The latest masterpiece? Trying to scrap birthright citizenship, because nothing says “land of the free” like rewriting the constitution to banish babies from the “home of the brave”.

The result? An America where immigrants — especially those who happen to have the wrong skin tone — are automatically assumed to be criminals and freeloaders. That the economy depends on immigrant labour? Irrelevant. That most violent crime is committed by native-born citizens? Inconvenient.
SA politicians have not been tardy in taking a page from the global populist playbook. The scapegoat of choice isn’t just any immigrant — it’s the “illegal” foreigner, the faceless menace allegedly plundering resources and stealing jobs.

This brings us to the saga of illegal mining, the latest excuse for a xenophobic free-for-all. In the abandoned shafts of mining ghost towns in the North West province we had thousands of miners — most of them undocumented immigrants — trapped underground, starving and, according to reports, resorting to cannibalism.
What did our esteemed leadership propose? Sending help? Rescue? Involve the community? Of course not. Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni demanded that they be “smoked out.” Because nothing screams good governance like leaving desperate people to die in a hole.

Meanwhile, mineral & petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe, never one to let a populist opportunity go to waste, labelled the miners “economic saboteurs”. A curious accusation considering the real economic sabotage has been happening in boardrooms and government contracts for decades. But why confront systemic failure when you can blame foreigners?

Nothing new here; remember Idi Amin? Distract the public with an “enemy” while dodging accountability. The more dire the crisis — crime, poverty, unemployment — the louder the anti-immigrant rhetoric. The inconvenient truth is that none of SA’s economic woes can be pinned on immigrants, documented or not. The housing crisis? A result of decades of poor planning and corruption. The unemployment rate? A casualty of economic mismanagement. Crumbling infrastructure? A direct consequence of looting on a grand scale.

But pointing fingers at immigrants is easier than admitting failure. It’s also more effective. People love a simple narrative, and “foreigners are the problem” is far easier to digest than “we’ve systematically mismanaged the country for years”.
If you thought this was just an SA or American problem, think again. Ask Elon Musk, whose platform, X (known as Twitter before he had a branding epiphany) has become a global breeding ground for misinformation and hysteria masquerading as “free speech”. Whether it’s election fraud conspiracies, transphobic tirades or good, old-fashioned immigrant bashing. Musk’s free speech crusade has turned his social media empire into a safe space for the world’s most unhinged ideas.

But back at the ranch, sitting on sofas stuffed with dollars, President Cyril Ramaphosa might ask himself at what point democracy becomes a hollow shell of itself. When a government scapegoats its most vulnerable instead of protecting them? When populist fearmongering replaces fact-based policy? When leaders openly dismiss humanitarian crises because they involve the “wrong” kind of people?
When profit trumps the struggles of ordinary folk, I remember Marikana.

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm

The inconvenient truth is that none of SA’s economic woes can be pinned on immigrants, documented or not.
When in doubt, blame the foreigners. It worked for Donald Trump in his successful bid for the US presidency, and it’s working just fine for SA politicians eager to distract from their own failures.

All you need to do is take a struggling economy, throw in a few national identity crises, add in some populist grandstanding, and you’ve got yourself a fine scapegoat. Immigrants, especially the undocumented ones, are now the plug-in explanation for everything from unemployment to crumbling infrastructure and failing healthcare.

Across the Atlantic Trump and his disciples mastered this craft. “Build the wall!” became more than a slogan — it’s a movement, a rallying cry for what Hillary Clinton called “a basket of deplorables”, convinced that America’s problems could be solved by keeping out desperate people fleeing worse situations.
Now, executive orders flow freely. The latest masterpiece? Trying to scrap birthright citizenship, because nothing says “land of the free” like rewriting the constitution to banish babies from the “home of the brave”.

The result? An America where immigrants — especially those who happen to have the wrong skin tone — are automatically assumed to be criminals and freeloaders. That the economy depends on immigrant labour? Irrelevant. That most violent crime is committed by native-born citizens? Inconvenient.
SA politicians have not been tardy in taking a page from the global populist playbook. The scapegoat of choice isn’t just any immigrant — it’s the “illegal” foreigner, the faceless menace allegedly plundering resources and stealing jobs.

This brings us to the saga of illegal mining, the latest excuse for a xenophobic free-for-all. In the abandoned shafts of mining ghost towns in the North West province we had thousands of miners — most of them undocumented immigrants — trapped underground, starving and, according to reports, resorting to cannibalism.
What did our esteemed leadership propose? Sending help? Rescue? Involve the community? Of course not. Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni demanded that they be “smoked out.” Because nothing screams good governance like leaving desperate people to die in a hole.

Meanwhile, mineral & petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe, never one to let a populist opportunity go to waste, labelled the miners “economic saboteurs”. A curious accusation considering the real economic sabotage has been happening in boardrooms and government contracts for decades. But why confront systemic failure when you can blame foreigners?

Nothing new here; remember Idi Amin? Distract the public with an “enemy” while dodging accountability. The more dire the crisis — crime, poverty, unemployment — the louder the anti-immigrant rhetoric. The inconvenient truth is that none of SA’s economic woes can be pinned on immigrants, documented or not. The housing crisis? A result of decades of poor planning and corruption. The unemployment rate? A casualty of economic mismanagement. Crumbling infrastructure? A direct consequence of looting on a grand scale.

But pointing fingers at immigrants is easier than admitting failure. It’s also more effective. People love a simple narrative, and “foreigners are the problem” is far easier to digest than “we’ve systematically mismanaged the country for years”.
If you thought this was just an SA or American problem, think again. Ask Elon Musk, whose platform, X (known as Twitter before he had a branding epiphany) has become a global breeding ground for misinformation and hysteria masquerading as “free speech”. Whether it’s election fraud conspiracies, transphobic tirades or good, old-fashioned immigrant bashing. Musk’s free speech crusade has turned his social media empire into a safe space for the world’s most unhinged ideas.

But back at the ranch, sitting on sofas stuffed with dollars, President Cyril Ramaphosa might ask himself at what point democracy becomes a hollow shell of itself. When a government scapegoats its most vulnerable instead of protecting them? When populist fearmongering replaces fact-based policy? When leaders openly dismiss humanitarian crises because they involve the “wrong” kind of people?
When profit trumps the struggles of ordinary folk, I remember Marikana.

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm