Border authority drones intercept over 6,000 illegal crossings into South Africa over Easter

The Border Management Authority (BMA) has praised drone technology for helping arrest over 6,000 undocumented immigrants over the Easter weekend, with Zimbabweans leading the list of illegal entry attempts.

This was revealed in the BMA’s Easter border operations report by Commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato during a media briefing on Monday at various ports of entry.

Masiapato said the operation spanned 10 days, from April 15 to April 24, and recorded an 8% increase in cross-border travel compared to the previous year.

He said they recorded about 1,057,063 movements across the country’s 71 ports of entry.

Masiapato said authorities intercepted 6,253 individuals attempting to enter or exit the country illegally, a 61% increase from the 3,841 intercepted during the 2024 Easter period.

“We have been able to intercept and apprehend a total of 6,253 persons who were attempting to enter or exit South Africa illegally,” said Masiapato.

Of the 6,253 intercepted individuals, 4,795 were undocumented, 1,059 were considered "undesirables," and 403 were found to be inadmissible due to various reasons.

Masiapato said some of the inadmissible cases involved individuals with fraudulent visas or those who failed to produce a yellow fever certificate when arriving from countries affected by the disease.

South Africa shares borders with six neighbouring countries: Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini. Many of these are vulnerable to illegal migration, smuggling, and human trafficking.

Zimbabwean nationals were identified as the most common offenders in the 2025 Easter operation.

“Even in this 2025 Easter period, a consistent pattern of top three nationalities, which continues to undermine our immigration laws, remains the Zimbabweans at 2,019, followed by Basotho at 1,921 and Mozambicans at 1,143, and the remainder of 1,170 is shared amongst the Swatis and other nationalities,” said Masiapato.

He praised the successful operation in part to the deployment of new technologies, which includes drones and body cameras.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber welcomed the arrests and echoed Masiapato’s sentiments regarding the technology rollout for the interceptions.

“While we are still early in the reform process, the digital transformation of border management is clearly yielding meaningful progress,” Schreiber said.

“The success of Easter operations to clamp down on illegal immigration follows on similar improvements over the 2024/25 festive season, indicating sustained improvement in the efficiency of border management.”

Schreiber acknowledged ongoing challenges but said the reforms have placed South Africa on a new path.

“I congratulate and am encouraged by the enthusiasm with which digital reforms are being implemented by the BMA leadership, and look forward to building on this momentum as we further intensify our reforms,” he said.

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

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