A panel discussion on “Building national resilience through home-grown technological innovations for safety and security” brought together senior technocrats, academics, and industry figures to explore strategic independence, digital resilience, and barriers that stop home-grown innovation from advancing.

Speakers included Dr Mike Masiapato, Commissioner of the Border Management Authority (BMA); Dr Moses Khanyile, Director of the Defence Artificial Intelligence Research Unit (DAIRU); Dr Mamela Luthuli, CEO of TakeNote IT; and Dr Mthobisi Zondi, CEO and Executive Chair of Sandock Austral Defence.

Together, they described a country at a crossroads: one that must choose whether to rely on foreign partners for critical technologies or commit to building resilient, locally integrated systems to safeguard its security and economic future. Though views varied, the message was clear: South Africa must move beyond conceptual debates toward decisive action to secure borders, protect citizens, and drive economic growth.

Strategic Independence in a Volatile World

Opening the discussion, Zondi strongly argued that national resilience beings with strategic independence. “For any country to project resilience, in the way that it projects defence and military capability, for example, there has to be strategic independence. Strategic independence allows a country to deploy its capabilities on its own volition, without dependence on third-party countries,” Zondi told attendees.

He explained that ‘dependence’ leaves states dangerously exposed. Citing recent conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he cautioned that geopolitical instability could quickly expose nations that overly rely on foreign suppliers. “Geopolitics is so fluid, a person you depend on to supply consumables for security of supply, for example, may not be amenable to do that tomorrow,” he noted.

Achieving independence will require a “whole of South Africa” approach. Defence must be part of the national R&D conversation, not an afterthought. “One of the biggest challenges in terms of defence is that the defence community does not sit at the table where plans and priorities in the government are made,” he explained.

Departments like Trade, Industry, and Competition alongside Higher Education and Defence invest billions in R&D, yet “when it comes to setting up priorities, a strategic map for the next five years for key technologies that are going to be developed for socio-economic purposes, defence is not involved.”

Zondi also urged a shift away from costly “invention” cycles towards pragmatic innovation. “We need to be focusing on innovation, packaging existing technological building blocks and underpinning it with commercial off-the-shelf technology to solve problems that have never been solved before. It’s cheaper, the development cycle is quicker.”

Digital Resilience Over Digital Sovereignty

Khanyile challenged the practicality of digital sovereignty, arguing that South Africa should instead prioritise digital resilience.

“Digital sovereignty does not exist; it is a very aspirational thing. Digital resilience is what we should be talking about.”

Citing intensified global geopolitical fractures, Khanyile also warned that these same fractures extend into the digital landscape and that they will force difficult strategic decisions moving forward.

“In its quest for digital resilience, South Africa needs to decide whether it is going to go East or West for its digital requirements,” he said, adding, “we have been told the East is bad and the West is good, and they have been told the opposite. South Africa is supposedly non-aligned, but one way or another we have to make a commitment in terms of our digital assets and infrastructure.”

He also predicted a future where security forces will rely heavily on technology for everyday policing. “For every human law enforcer, you will have three or four digital equivalents fulfilling that responsibility elsewhere,” he said, highlighting the need for strategic investment, especially in artificial intelligence, to mitigate future dependency.

Confidence and Execution: Time for African Solutions

Luthuli, on the other hand, emphasised self-belief and practical action over dependency on foreign solutions. “We should not be looking East or West. As Africans, we should focus on what works for us and develop our own home-grown solutions,” she argued.

Luthuli argued that Africa’s biggest limitation is not capability, but self-belief. “You can travel anywhere in the world and find a South African behind the technologies we admire and try to replicate at home,” she said. “Our biggest weakness is implementation, we need to start doing things; we conceptualise too long.”

Ongoing Vulnerability and Bureaucratic Paralysis

Masiapato argued that fear and over-caution in government decision-making stifle progress and agility, leading to indecision. “One of the biggest challenges I have observed over my 20 years as a technocrat in South Africa is that we have put ourselves under the bus. Everyone is afraid, if you do not do everything perfectly you will be fired or jailed,” he said.

“Directors are afraid to take decisions and always want to ask a higher official. It makes processes slow, rigid, and ineffective. As a result, we cannot harness the local technologies that already exist in the country,” he explained.

Masiapato specifically highlighted border management as a key vulnerability, citing the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when some potentially dangerous individuals entered and never left. He called for using local technologies, including advanced biometric and surveillance systems, to manage migration securely while facilitating economic and social benefits.

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Speaking at the CSIR@80 | G-STIC Pretoria Conference session titled “Building National Resilience Through Home-grown Technological Innovations for Safety and Security,” Masiapato delivered a clear assessment of South Africa’s border challenges and the urgent need to refocus on and re-establish security as a cornerstone of the country’s national development agenda.

“No jurisdiction can effectively develop unless that particular jurisdiction can understand the imperatives of safety and security,” he told attendees.

Masiapato explained that during and after the 1994 democratic transition, the country drifted away from traditional security concerns towards “issues of social security. While that was critical, unfortunately we did too much, to the extent that the reality now caught up with us. That is why we are now trying to reverse or go back to the fundamentals around the issues of safety and security.”

The Strategic Importance of the BMA

The BMA, as one of South Africa’s three primary national (armed) law enforcement authorities (the others being the South African Police Service and the South African National Defence Force) is responsible for managing and controlling the “legitimate movement of people and goods across all South African ports of entry,” Masiapato explained.

It operates across some 71 ports of entry, including 52 land ports with six neighbouring countries, ten international airports, eight seaports, and one “dry port” at City Deep, Johannesburg. In addition, the BMA operates within a 10 km area along South Africa’s international borders, including the country’s approximately 3 900 km long coastline (a 10 km inland control strip and a 12-nautical-mile maritime zone).

According to Masiapato, the BMA’s mission extends far beyond policing borders and controlling migration. Effective border management, he argued, is fundamental to both national security and economic growth. However, “systemic vulnerabilities in our border processes have, for too long, undermined our national integrity,” he said. Manual, opaque procedures have created “fertile ground for corruption, eroded public trust, and compromised our security.”

Digital Transformation as a Strategic Imperative

To address these weaknesses, the BMA is implementing a sweeping digital transformation strategy, which Masiapato described as a “strategic imperative” and a “radical, comprehensive automation of all border processes.”

The initiative is focused on three main objectives:

“Removing the paper: eliminating the physical pretext for manipulation and fraud.”
“Digitised processes: create an immutable, transparent digital audit trail for every transaction.”
“Automated decisions: enforce consistency, speed, and impartiality in line with the law.”
According to Masiapato, the ideal outcome is a border environment that is secure, efficient, and trusted.

One example is the BMA’s work on Authorised Economic Operators (AEO), a system that will register trusted freight operators and allow them to pass through ‘green lanes’ using number-plate recognition and digital authorisation. Masiapato explained that this would not only aid in the fight against corruption but also greatly improve the flow of goods and people across South Africa’s borders.

“Trucks waiting two weeks to cross Beitbridge is not sustainable for trade, regional integration, or the implementation African Continental Free Trade Area,” he emphasised.

Technology and Home-grown Solutions

Masiapato stressed that digitalisation must go hand in hand with investment in home-grown technology. “The minister is a key driving force behind the BMA’s digitalisation transformation. In this a need was identified to work with home grown tech companies and research bodies, such as the CSIR,” he said.

He also warned that an over or total dependence on technology from foreign countries, even those considered “friends or strategic partners”, creates serious strategic vulnerabilities. “Even in that instance, if you happen to go to war and you completely depend on technology from allies, they can simply just shut you down, making you vulnerable to attack.”

To this end, the BMA is introducing several initiatives to stimulate and support domestic innovation and technological development. These include: preferential procurement policies; public-private innovation partnerships; regulatory sandboxes or safe test environments (for local innovators to trial technologies in live settings); and skills transfer mandates requiring foreign vendor contracts to include the mandatory upskilling of local teams.

New Technologies for Safer, Better Borders

Additionally, the Commissioner highlighted a number of technologies already being deployed, including long-range drones for border patrols, body cameras for on-site personnel, and advanced passenger processing systems that screen travellers before they board flights bound for South Africa.

“E-gates are coming, we will be installing some now for the G-20,” he said. Adding, “it is something critical for the better facilitating of people, so that when they get to the port they can be processed through facial recognition and biometric screening before they travel.”

Masiapato explained that this would not only ease the travel experience of visitors to the country, but also better enable South Africa to conduct ‘pre-analysis’ on travellers before entry into the country.

“Before they land you already know who they are, you already know that they are harmless and therefore they just walk into the country.”

Reclaiming integrity through innovation

For Masiapato, digitalisation and home-grown innovation are not only about efficiency, they are about restoring integrity and public trust in the border management system.

“Our mission is to systematically eliminate the space for corruption,” he said. “The current system encourages it. If you wait two weeks at a port and someone says, ‘Pay R500 and you’ll be through in 30 minutes,’ of course you’ll pay. We are changing that.”

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Speaking at the Border Management Conference and Expo 2024 at the CSIR International Convention Centre on Wednesday 13 November, Masiapato said the issue of border management remains one of the most critical subjects for any nation and in South Africa border management is not just about securing borders but also creating a framework that promotes national safety, economic activity, and a sustainable environment.

In an increasingly globalised economy, South Africa’s prosperity depends on its ability to connect with other nations. “Beyond security, our borders are key to South Africa’s economic prosperity as they facilitate trade and commerce,” Masiapato said.

“National security lies at the very heart of our mission statement as the BMA for the fact that we are playing a very critical role safeguarding our nation from threats such as terrorism, trafficking, organised crime, the smuggling of goods, and illegal migration. These kind of threats, if not mitigated, have the potential to destabilise communities, harm individuals, and undermine the integrity of the nation,” Masiapato told conference attendees.

He added that border security is an interagency matter, with the BMA a frontline entity while key government departments provide policy directives, for example the Department of Home Affairs (visas and immigration policy), Department of Agriculture (import/export directives), and Department of Health (screening directives) etc.

Other key pieces in the border management puzzle include the South African Police Service, South African National Defence Force, and South African Revenue Service. “By sharing information, resources, and expertise, we are able to respond more effectively to threats,” the Commissioner said, as each entity brings specialist knowledge to the table.

Regarding private industry, Masiapato said the role of the private sector cannot be underestimated as those working in logistics, supply chain management etc. bring valuable expertise to the table. “By fostering public-private partnerships we can enhance border security, improve efficiencies, and create systems that benefit trade and national security. We are actively seeking partnerships with technology firms, logistics firms etc. so we can enhance smart borders.”

The Commissioner gave an example of using iris scanning to pass through immigration control rather than using traditional passports (in 2004, the UK trialled its Iris Recognition Immigration System to provide automated clearance through UK immigration for certain frequent travellers, for example).

“As an advanced economy we must be able to move with speed and be trailblazer on the continent. Together we can create a framework where goods move efficiently, where goods move and business thrives. We can’t have trucks queuing for ten days,” Masiapato said. The BMA is working to speed up movement at points of entry, including working with neighbouring countries. At the Oshoek border crossing with Eswatini, the BMA synchronised processes and reduced waiting times for trucks from nine hours to ten minutes, Masiapato explained, saying long truck queues are a thing of the past.

“The complexity of border challenges means we must build strong alliances across government, the private sector, and international partners. Public-private partnerships represent a crucial component of our strategy for the future,” Masiapato said. The private sector can, with their expertise, resources and technology, help the BMA achieve its objectives. “Tech companies can help us with data analytics, border surveillance, risk assessment, faster and more efficient trade routes.”

“I therefore invite each one of you here today to join in our mission to seek to secure our borders,” Masiapato told conference attendees. “Together we can make South Africa’s borders a model for security, efficiency and sustainability.”

The importance of private sector collaboration was also emphasised by Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, who gave the keynote address at the Border Management Conference. He noted that public-private partnerships are envisioned for the redevelopment of six key land border posts.

“Businesses and industries play a critical role in bolstering the capabilities of the BMA. From logistics and transportation to security and technology, the private sector brings valuable expertise and resources that complement our efforts in managing South Africa’s borders effectively,” the Minister said.

“By working with logistics companies, for instance, we can more effectively monitor the movement of goods and manage the flow of trade, which helps reduce congestion and improves service delivery. Collaboration with security firms enables us to enhance surveillance, monitor high-risk areas, and respond quickly to incidents. Technology firms are also key players in this effort, helping us integrate digital solutions that make border processing faster and more secure.

“Advanced analytics, biometric verification, and real-time data sharing with private sector stakeholders will enable us to respond to threats more efficiently and enhance the accuracy of our documentation and immigration processes.

“By creating public-private partnerships, we will encourage the development of a border management framework that serves both public interests and private sector growth,” Schreiber said.

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