The fisherman was arrested on the Strandfontein pavilion on Friday 24 October in a sting operation conducted by law enforcement officers and DFFE Fishery Control Officers in in collaboration with the City of Cape Town Marine Unit.

“It is encouraging to note that the arrest followed reports from concerned members of the public regarding the illegal drone fishing activities in False Bay,” said DFFE Minister Dr Dion George.

“This is the kind of zero-tolerance approach that will enhance our enforcement efforts.”

The Minister said the accused holds a valid permit endorsed for recreational angling, which only authorises manually operating a rod, reel and line as defined in the Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998.

“However, the use of a drone is not authorised, as stipulated in the conditions of the permit. Officers confiscated the drone, which will be used as evidence in court proceedings.”

According to the department, the enforcement action follows the Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling on 16 July 2024, upholding the ban on the use of drones, bait-carrying remote-controlled boats and other remotely operated devices in fishing operations.

The department explained that the use of these drones for fishing has been illegal since 2005, and recreational anglers and members of the public have previously been warned that they could face enforcement action should they be caught using such devices.

The department stated that it remains committed to the conservation and sustainable management of South Africa’s marine resources.

“We believe that the ban on drones and remote-controlled devices in marine environments is crucial in preserving the delicate balance of our oceans and protecting vulnerable species.”

The Minister has emphasised that enforcement capabilities and partnerships will continue to be strengthened to ensure that those who exploit natural resources face the full consequences of the law.

“I extend my heartfelt gratitude to every officer and partner involved in these operations. Their hard work and sacrifices are crucial in safeguarding South Africa’s marine biodiversity,” added George.

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The efforts of enforcement officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), the South African Police Service (SAPS), the City of Cape Town Marine Unit, and other enforcement agencies disrupted a large-scale illegal abalone poaching operation on Monday and Tuesday.

On 22 September, DFFE Fishery Control Officers together with the other law enforcement officers intercepted a truck with dried abalone near Rawsonville in the Western Cape.

The truck was transporting 13 341 dried abalone with a weight of approximately 840 kilograms with an estimated value of R5 million.

A day later, law enforcement officers discovered an abalone poaching operation, which involved approximately 20 divers.

Despite the difficulties posed by rough terrain and the strategic concealment tactics used by the divers, enforcement teams were assisted by the SAPS drone unit and managed to apprehend nine suspects and recover diving equipment and gear.

“These arrests, and other recent ones, are indicative of our ongoing conservation efforts supported by stronger, tactical law enforcement.

“Criminal syndicates must know that South Africans do not tolerate lawlessness and the misuse of our natural assets – those who exploit our natural resources will face the full consequences of the law,” the Minister said on Thursday.

George has called on the public to join hands in the fight against illegal activity by reporting any suspicious activities to the relevant DFFE authorities on 086 111 2468 | cscenquries@dffe.gov.za or any other law enforcement authority.

“I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to every officer and partner involved in these operations. Their hard work and sacrifice are crucial in safeguarding South Africa’s marine biodiversity,” he said.

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A systematic review published in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness recently confirmed how essential situational awareness has become to ensure effective and efficient disaster response. Another study showed how combining body-worn cameras, drones and AI could support real-time situational awareness and improve evidence collection, officer and public safety, and operational efficiency. Technology is changing the shape of saving human lives, and already there are multiple use cases worldwide that underscore its value.

Body worn cameras have become live-streaming intelligence nodes, drones now arrive on the scene before officers, and IoT sensors add layers of environmental insight. Combined with the rapidly changing capabilities of AI, these technologies are moving situational awareness from fragmented inputs to a unified, predictive view.

Proven Impact that is globally validated.

The impact of these tools is also measurable. The Chula Vista Police Department in California, for example, has deployed drones as first responders on more than 20,000 missions and have cut their average response times by more than two minutes. The Lancashire Constabulary in the UK equipped 2,200 officers with integrated body-worn cameras to streamline reporting and boost transparency, and in 2024, Police Scotland committed £13.3 million to a nationwide rollout of 10,500 devices following 81% public support. In Seattle, Brinc, a drone manufacturer, has expanded its Responder drone platform to more than 700 public safety agencies across the United States. And in China, UAV-based communication nodes have kept operations running in disaster zones where terrestrial infrastructure has failed.

Why this matters today

Globally, the demand for richer situational awareness has reached a tipping point. Citizens expect every interaction with emergency services to be transparent and backed by verifiable evidence, a standard reinforced by research showing body-worn video reduces public complaints and escalations dramatically. At the same time, the pressures of rising urban density, climate-related disasters, and increasingly complex security threats are stretching traditional tools beyond their limits.

In South Africa, the safety environment is equally on the cusp of change. Transforming first responder and citizen safety is urgent. For every police officer, there are six private security guards, most operate with fragmented systems, often relying on WhatsApp groups to coordinate responses, and ambulance operators frequently dispatch vehicles without visibility into what equipment and medication they have available. Combined, these factors undermine survival rates.

At the same time, city governments like Cape Town have shown the life-saving impact of resilient communication networks. They kept first responders connected during the recent wildfires and show the art of the possible when mission-critical communication and situational intelligence are treated as public infrastructure.

And how the accessibility and readiness of today’s technology is making it easier for cities and governments to change. With LTE and 5G now embedded across most urban centres, the networks exist to carry real-time video, telemetry, and AI-driven analysis directly into command centres. For the first time, agencies can move from fragmented updates to continuous, multi-layered intelligence, allowing them to anticipate hazards, respond faster, and build trust through accountability.

And the proof is in the results – when intelligence is delivered faster, outcomes improve, public trust and officer safety increase and communities experience tangible value. The future lies in convergence. Body-worn video, drone reconnaissance, IoT sensors, and AI analytics, when connected through a single platform, create a living operational ecosystem. Instead of officers drowning in raw data, decision-makers receive actionable intelligence: suspect locations, hazard alerts, biometric stress readings, or automated evidence logs.

A measurable strategic pay-off

Importantly, the pay-off is very clear. Technology brings transparency alongside reduced litigation risks through verifiable chains of evidence; faster response times; improved operational efficiencies with automated tagging and streamlined reporting; and community trust driven by accountability. Crucially, these investments also lay the groundwork for smart city capabilities with predictive policing, cross-agency data sharing and AI-driven dispatch.

This is the direction Sentiv has taken, with modular platforms that integrate easily into existing dispatch and command systems. The Sentiv model is already in use, supported by flexible commercial structures such as Body-Worn Cameras-as-a-Service or Drone-Response-as-a-Service solutions. These modular solutions allow decision-makers to opt into next-generation situational awareness using solutions and approaches already proven, both locally and globally.

For leaders in South Africa and across Africa, the opportunity is to leapfrog legacy models and build integrated, cloud-enabled situational awareness from the ground up. By doing so, they can save lives, reduce risk, and create safer, more resilient communities, and avoid the costs and complexity that come with fragmented systems, slower responses and reduced public trust.

Written by Reshaad Sha, Executive Chairman, Sentiv.

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Drone Force specialising in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that are capable of autonomous launch, landing, and recharging. This partnership leverages Vumacam’s extensive network of cameras and license plate recognition technology alongside Drone Force’s “drone-in-a-box” systems to provide continuous aerial surveillance, legally compliant with South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) regulations and PSIRA (Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority) accreditations.

Drone Force’s autonomous drones operate from docking stations that allow them to deploy in various weather conditions, day or night. When integrated with Vumacam’s fixed camera infrastructure and real-time video intelligence platform, the drones add a critical aerial perspective that complements the ground-based coverage. This integration creates a more complete security picture, enabling faster and smarter resource allocation in crime monitoring and intervention.

The combined surveillance capabilities enhance situational awareness for security teams and law enforcement, providing a new vantage point that criminals find harder to evade. Vumacam’s CEO, Ricky Croock, highlights that this partnership elevates surveillance to new heights, ensuring safer communities through faster interventions and better intelligence sharing. Drone Force CEO, David De Lima, emphasizes how the synergy between their drone systems and Vumacam’s extensive camera network results in an effective Drone First Response solution, which improves response times and ultimately saves lives.

Vumacam’s mission is to use video technology and collaboration to make South Africa safer. This partnership with Drone Force is a natural extension of that mission, combining cutting-edge ground-based and aerial surveillance technologies to provide actionable intelligence in real time. Together, they aim to foster safer, smarter cities where people and businesses can thrive with enhanced security.

Vumacam provided an example of one operation in which a Drone Force pilot identified a fire during an aerial patrol. “Within minutes, a K9 Unit was deployed, uncovering a suspect burning stolen cables. The drone continued to monitor the scene while ground units responded,” it said. The Drone Force pilot’s actions led to the suspect’s arrest and the recovery of the stolen cables.

Michael Lever, 24/7 Drone Force’s Technical Director, said: “We are proud to partner with Vumacam in advancing compliant, integrated drone operations at scale. By fusing Vumacam’s extensive CCTV and analytics-driven SafeCity network with our docked drone technology, we can deliver aerial coverage seamlessly integrated into existing monitoring platforms. This creates a unified operational picture that strengthens situational awareness, speeds up incident response, and optimises resource deployment. The ability to layer aerial intelligence over Vumacam’s proven analytics engine marks a significant step forward in South Africa’s security ecosystem—making interventions smarter, faster, and more effective.”

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Managing Director Bertus van Zyl told ProtectionWeb that developing computer vision software can take the load off pilots and alert pilots to, for example, movement while a drone is on patrol: a UAV will only call on the pilot when needed. This means pilots will not have to monitor their UAV continually, reducing pilot fatigue, especially during night operations. Artificial intelligence (AI) will also mean that it will be feasible for pilots to control multiple drones simultaneously.

Van Zyl explained that Aerial Works is developing its own computer vision software. The company is aiming for a future where one pilot can control a swarm of drones from a remote location and even have fully autonomous swarms of drones. As the company can fly its drones over the internet, operating multiple drones across different locations is not a problem.

Aerial Works and its UAV manufacturing arm, Sky Robots, is at the forefront of South Africa’s rapidly advancing drone industry. Founded in 2017, Aerial Works has established itself as a leading provider of premium drone security services in South Africa, catering to the military, police, private security, and mining sectors.

“Our competitive advantage is training, operations, and manufacturing,” said Aerial Works and Drone Guards Director Kim James. Speaking at the Securex 2025 exhibition at Gallagher Estate last week, she explained that by manufacturing its own UAV through Sky Robots, Aerial Works is able to provide a custom-designed aircraft suited to harsh African conditions and backed up by a ready supply of spares.

Aerial Works makes use of multi-rotor drones for operations requiring no more than a 5 km radius, and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fixed wing drones for operations of more than 15 km and requiring two hours or more time in the air.

The SRV22E VTOL fixed wing is manufactured in-house by Sky Robots, which was established in 2019 as a sister company. The UAV combines the agility and manoeuvrability of a quadcopter with the extended flight range and speed of a fixed wing aircraft. Made out of carbon fibre, it is lightweight and strong as well as water-resistant for inclement weather operations – it can also operate at night. It can carry a 1 kg payload for two hours. An innovative lidar landing assistance feature ensures smooth landings regardless of landing environment. Further enhancing safety is an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transponder to avoid potential collisions with nearby aircraft. As it is manufactured locally, it is relatively cost effective to produce: training for two pilots, a control room and SRV22E all cost just R1.3 million.

In conjunction with Sky Robots, Aerial Works is able to offer a turnkey service, including drone pilot training for both multirotor and VTOL fixed wing drones, command and control vehicles and containers, drones, and software solutions for planning, execution and management of drone operations.

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The UAV, designed to provide a cost-effective intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, amongst others, has a flight endurance of over 10 hours and range of 800 km with a 7 kg payload, rivalling the performance of UAVs twice its size. The SF30, according to the company, is a persistent, multi-functional, rugged VTOL aircraft with class-leading performance, but at a significantly lower price point and much smaller logistical footprint than competitors.

Four electric motors with position-locking propellers provide vertical lift while a four-stroke petrol engine driving a pusher propeller provides thrust for horizontal flight and a cruising speed of 90 km/h.

The SF30 weights 22 kg empty, and carries 10 kg of fuel and payload. Wingspan is 4.13 metres, length 2.48 metres, and height .65 metres.

An accessible 40 litre payload bay makes changing payloads and sensors simple. Combination payloads, for example, a wide area scanner coupled to a gimballed day/night tracking camera, are possible.

ShadowfaxUAS said the SF30 offers robust vertical take-off and landing capability, allowing it to operate in unforgiving environments. It can take off and land anywhere – even from the top of a vehicle – and is completely runway and launch equipment independent. Auto-feathering VTOL propellers improve aerodynamic performance and flight duration. The UAV disassembles into a 1.6 metre long transport box, allowing for transportability in rugged environments with small vehicles.

Needing only two people to operate, the SF30 can be assembled from the box and be flight ready in less than an hour. Turnaround between flights is under 20 minutes.

The UAV was designed to offer high reliability for increased utilisation rates and reduced sensor data cost per hour. It has a removable forward propulsion engine unit which can be swapped out in seconds, making for easy maintenance, improved reliability as well as platform availability and utilisation.

“Reliability and high system availability is further enhanced by best-in-class equipment on board,” ShadowfaxUAS stated. The forward propulsion engine, VTOL motors, speed controllers and actuators were specifically designed for UAV use.

The platform is capable of carrying a range of communications equipment, including satellite communications, encrypted MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) radios and cellular, offering extensive operational range in third-world environments.

The UAV is ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) free, offering export capability to most countries.

Shadowfax UAS (Pty) Ltd is a registered exporter of unmanned aerial systems with the South African National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC).

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Some years ago Denel approached local universities to take part in the research and development of new generation aircraft: an unmanned helicopter (Prowler) and manned aeroplane (Small African Regional Aircraft – SARA). The Prowler was developed in conjunction with Armscor.

The resulting RW-UAS is day and night operable and is equipped with optical sensors and an optional radar sensor. The standard observation sensors include a thermal imaging camera, high definition colour TV camera, auto tracker, laser rangefinder and designator. The optional radar sensor offers synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imagery as well as ground moving object indicator imagery.

Capable of automatic vertical take-off and landing, the RW-UAS can operate and navigate autonomously, with 10 hours of endurance with the standard payload. With an additional 80 kg payload, the system has a four hour endurance. Maximum take-off weight is 560 kg.

With a fully articulated five-blade main and tail rotor system, Denel notes the system has a low noise profile and can operate from a variety of landing zones, even from the back of a vehicle and vessels, making it competitive in this weight class.

The RW-UAS has an airframe length of 5.9 metres, with a rotor diameter of six metres, and a height of 1.7 metres. It is powered by a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke turbocharged petrol or diesel motor, capable of propelling it to a speed of 200 km/h.

Intended applications include law enforcement, public safety, border patrol, wildlife monitoring, area surveillance, powerline inspection, disaster management, search and rescue, communications relay, and geological surveying.

The aircraft’s flight modes include Autonomous mode, with autopilot control in accordance with a pre-planned flight plan, including auto take-off and landing. Trajectory mode makes use of autopilot, which executes route commands from the Ground Control Station (GCS). A sense and avoid capability is included, along with communications fail mode, which executes an autonomous flight to a predetermined landing point. There is also provision for engine rotor failure, which executes autorotation and an autonomous landing.

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SSASS CEO Dean Polley said his company opened a new premises in Centurion in September last year and is assembling its SR series fixed wing aircraft with a quadcopter component for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). Transitioning to horizontal flight gives far greater range than pure VTOL aircraft.

SSASS offers a range of UAV solutions, but its largest and most important types are its SR series, offered for aerial surveillance and monitoring, surveying, mapping and photogrammetry, agriculture and farming, law enforcement and other roles.

The SR-50 is the largest in the series with a 4.8 metre wingspan, 15 kg payload, 82 km/h speed and 50-100 km control range. The SR-50E electric version has a 4.5 hour endurance while the SR-50H petrol version can fly for ten hours.

In the middle is the SR-25E with a 4.2 metre wingspan, 10 kg payload, 3.5 hour endurance, 70 km/h speed and 50-100 km control range. On the smaller side is the SR-10E with a 2.4 metre wingspan, 1.5 kg payload, three hour endurance, 70 km/h top speed and 10 km control range.

Each aircraft is built to order in line with client specifications and can be fitted with multiple payload options in a quickly detachable payload pod. Payload options range from mapping systems to electro-optical/infrared cameras with object tracking etc. For military applications, although the aircraft are designed for use in non-combat security and surveillance roles, they do facilitate the installation and integration of select weapon systems that could be used in supporting ground troop operations if required.

SSASS completed tests flights of its first SR-25E in February, and has a first local client for the model, which is fitted with a RIEGL miniVUX-1UAV laser scanning system but the open payload bay can accommodate a multitude of customised payload applications – the client has three payload options.

Airframes are manufactured in China and the avionics are sourced from uAvionix Corporation in the United States, with assembly and customisation in South Africa. Total lead time from order to delivery of an aircraft is six to eight weeks, including airframe manufacture, payload integration, and testing.

The avionics supplied by uAvionix Corporation include the George G3 autopilot, truFYX GPS, SkyLink radio systems, pingRX Pro ADS-B receiver and a ping200X Mode S ADS-B transponder. What differentiates the SR series from other platforms is the separation of the command and control (C2) radio link from the data and gimbal control radio link. The onboard SkyLink air radio system is seamlessly integrated with the George autopilot and is paired with the SkyStation ground radio system. This provides a Control and a Non-Payload Communications (CNPC) link which is unique to unmanned systems. Multiple SkyStations can be deployed to support network and frequency roaming on the SkyLine C2 network.

With the 10 Watt radio, UAV communications range is 160 km, but if the radios are connected to Starlink satellite, communications range could be unlimited, and the aircraft could be flown from anywhere.

In addition to UAVs, SSASS is a reseller of Sagetech micro transponders, and supplies these for the locally manufactured Milkor 380 UAV – the largest such aircraft designed and built in Africa.

Drone in a box

SSASS sees a bright future for UAVs, especially as artificial intelligence and automation make them more accessible, and prices continue to come down. One new innovation Polley sees promise in is the ‘drone in a box’. The DJI Dock 2 ‘drone in a box’ is a self-contained UAV launching system complete with weather station and power supply. An operator can install the box and leave it until connecting from anywhere in the world to either launch and fly the drone manually or autonomously.

The UAV can be automatically launched to perform pre-programmed surveillance routes, for example, and when it’s done it returns to the box and charges up for the next mission through wireless induction charging. Endurance is 35-40 minutes and range 7 km. In South Africa, one of the first applications is deployment in a residential estate in Johannesburg.

Polley said the ‘drone in a box’ solution would be ideal for mining surveillance – one client manually flies UAVs to detect illegal miners every night, but the operators require an armed guard as there have been attacks on them. Using a ‘drone in a box’ solution would reduce the risk and staff required and reduce overall costs, he said.

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