Border Management Authority’s commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato.
The Border Management Authority’s (BMA) new technology-driven Vehicle Targeting System (VTS) has helped recover 83 vehicles worth R46.6 million in six months, as the agency steps up efforts to detect vehicle crime at South Africa’s land borders.
The system uses cameras to read vehicle number plates and checks them against records of stolen vehicles, cloned number plates, suspected ownership fraud and financed vehicles being taken across borders without the financier’s consent.
Speaking at the launch of the system at Lebombo Port of Entry yesterday, BMA commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato said the technology is changing how border guards identify vehicles requiring inspection.
“Instead of asking a border guard to find the wrong vehicle in a queue of right ones, we now tell the border guards which vehicle to look at, before the vehicle reaches them,” he said.
The system, which went live on 1 April, helps officials screen thousands of vehicles crossing the country’s land borders daily without physically inspecting every vehicle.
When a vehicle is flagged, an alert is sent to a border guard’s handheld device and port supervisors. Officers then scan the barcode on the vehicle’s licence disc, photograph the number plate and check the vehicle identification number stamped on the chassis.
The three identifiers must match before the vehicle is cleared.
“The machine does the looking and the border guard does the judging. That is the right division of labour between the Border Guard and the device,” said Masiapato.
The VTS was initially deployed at Maseru Bridge, Lebombo and Vioolsdrif in April, followed by Beitbridge and Ficksburg in August, and Caledonspoort at the end of September.
The BMA plans to extend deployment to eight land ports by the end of February 2027, with Qacha’s Nek, Oshoek and Kosi Bay among the next locations earmarked for rollout.
According to Masiapato, the system recorded 422 107 vehicle sightings during its first three months at three ports. It subsequently monitored another 170 962 vehicles over three months as deployment expanded to five ports.
The BMA has trained about 277 border guards, who operate approximately 22 handheld devices at the participating ports.
The technology also randomly selects some vehicles for physical inspection, even when they have not triggered an alert, to prevent motorists from evading screening by avoiding known risk indicators.
Masiapato said the system was also designed to improve accountability by recording what happens after an alert is issued.
“Every alert has to be closed out on the device with a recorded outcome, against a named border guard, on a named shift, at a named port,” he said.
An alert that is not acted on remains open and is included in reports sent to the port commander, regional commander and leadership at the National Border Targeting Centre.
He cautioned against viewing the technology as a complete solution to corruption at border posts.
“I am not telling you that technology has ended corruption at our borders. I am writing to tell you that we have given the BMA border guard better information, and that every decision taken after the alert is now a matter of record.”
Of the 83 recoveries recorded in the first six months, Masiapito said seven involved stolen vehicles, eight involved falsified ownership records and eight involved cloned vehicles.
He added that another 27 were stopped because of false bank letters, while 33 financed vehicles were recovered, settled or returned to their financing institutions.
Separately, 1 817 vehicles were stopped during 2026 because drivers could not produce written consent from the bank or finance house that owned the vehicles. Their estimated combined value was R636 million.
The BMA said the system is also contributing to improved compliance among motorists travelling across borders in financed vehicles.
In the quarter to the end of September, 6 256 of the 22 436 financed-vehicle sightings had valid border letters when first detected, representing 27.9%. This was up from 23.7% in the preceding quarter.
At Lebombo, the proportion of financed vehicles arriving with valid letters increased from 23.4% to 37.9% by September. Alerts involving financed vehicles without the required letters fell from 1 697 in July to 793 in September.
Masiapato said the objective was not simply to intercept vehicles, but to encourage motorists to obtain the necessary documentation before travelling.
“Enforcement that changes behaviour is worth more than enforcement that only catches people,” he said.
The commissioner said the system had not cost the South African taxpayer anything. The application, handheld devices, data, camera installations and training are provided by the International Vehicle Identification Desk under a memorandum of understanding with the BMA, he revealed.
The organisation receives support from the motor vehicle financing, insurance and car rental industries, which are exposed to losses when vehicles are unlawfully taken across borders.
Masiapato said the equipment was on loan to the state, but all records generated by the system belonged to the BMA.
“It is state data, held by the state, governed by the state,” he said, adding that private sector partners did not decide which vehicles should be stopped.
The BMA plans to conduct a full-year evaluation across operating ports in March 2027. The assessment will inform recommendations on extending the system to other designated land borders and potentially to airports and seaports.
Masiapato said the authority would ultimately measure the system’s success not only by the number of vehicles intercepted, but also by stolen vehicles identified, criminal networks dismantled, successful prosecutions and vehicles returned to their lawful owners.