Quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, as well as body-worn cameras and other new technologies have been introduced by the Border Management Authority (BMA) to secure South Africa’s borders and points of entry.
Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber said the launch of the new technology marks a big step forward for enhancing border security and management.
Four quadcopter UAVs and 40 body-worn cameras will be deployed for the first time at the country’s ports of entry over the coming Easter long weekend. The drones are equipped with night vision cameras incorporating thermal detection technology.
Powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), the devices are able to recognise and lock onto heat sources, moving people, or vehicles. They can also travel at speeds up to 43 kilometres per hour and are capable of operating in remote rural areas without access to GPS and even underground, the Department of Home Affairs said.
Nonhlanhla Mthembu, Instructor at Ntsu Drone Academy, said the drones can fly up to 7 000 metres, and have two cameras: a zoom camera that can see up to 20 km, and a thermal imaging camera for night operations. The cameras use artificial intelligence to identify and classify objects, and can automatically track objects. A laser rangefinder is used to calculate a target’s distance, and give coordinates.
“Data shows that when we first trialled the use of drones over the festive season, the number of attempted illegal crossings that were successfully prevented, increased by 215%,” said Schreiber.
He added that the Border Management Authority will now permanently deploy this cutting-edge technology on a fulltime basis.
The BMA is undertaking training to equip eight officers to become expert drone pilots. They will operate the devices on a shift basis and will move around different ports in the country.
Sujo Mulamattathil, Managing Director of Sparcx, provided a demonstration of body-worn cameras. They can record up to 16 hours of voice and video, as well as camera coordinates. The cameras can be linked with the drones so that if a panic button on the body-worn camera is pressed, the drone can fly to that location. Data from body-worn cameras will be stored in a secure facility for later review if needed.
“Our message to would-be illegal immigrants and smugglers is clear. We are now watching the borderline 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,” Schreiber said.
He explained that the cameras will be given to officials working in the port of entry environment to detect and punish acts of corruption, while also monitoring the efficiency of officials.
“Importantly, the cameras are linked to a dedicated Digital Evidence Management System which ensures that all footage is admissible in court to ensure successful convictions.”
BMA Commissioner Dr Micheal Masiapato said the funding for the cameras, drones, and other equipment was supplied by the Criminal Assets Recovery Account (CARA). The BMA originally requested R500 million in CARA funds to acquire tools of trade to get the BMA off the ground, but was allocated R150 million. In addition to the cameras and drones, the BMA has acquired prison carrier vans to transport illegal immigrants, port health vehicles, and speedboats for harbour patrol, Masiapato said. Procurements were done via Armscor.
Apart from the BMA, the South African Police Service aims to pilot 100 body-worn cameras in the coming year at a cost of R15 million.
PPP for six ports of entry
Schreiber gave an update on the planned upgrade of six ports of entry, which will be overhauled under a public-private partnership. “There should be within the next few weeks an announcement of the redevelopment of the six biggest land ports of entry in South Africa and they will be done through a public private partnership. So that process is well advanced and that too is going to be an enormous step forward for us. It will entail the physical reconstruction of those six busiest land ports and we intend to then integrate that with the one stop border post concept,” he said.
The one stop border post bill is in Parliament and when passed, will help greatly speed up border movements. “That process is well advanced and there should be some announcements in the next couple of weeks,” Schreiber said.
