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.
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.
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: