South Africa is deploying machine learning, biometrics, and facial recognition technologies to address one of its most politically sensitive challenges: controlling who enters the country.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to launch the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), a digital visa system, at OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday. The ETA forms the centerpiece of the Department of Home Affairs' technology-driven immigration overhaul and places South Africa among a growing list of countries adopting pre-travel digital screening, following systems like the United States' ESTA and the European Union's forthcoming ETIAS. Kenya also introduced an electronic travel authorisation in January 2024 as part of its own visa reforms, reflecting a broader continental shift toward digitised border management.

The initiative arrives amid mounting public anger over undocumented migration, porous borders, and weak enforcement—tensions that have fueled anti-immigration protests, some of which have turned violent and strained diplomatic relations with countries including Ghana and Nigeria.

"The ETA combines advanced biometric verification, machine learning and the upgraded Electronic Movement Control System (eMCS 2.0) as part of a modern digital immigration ecosystem that strengthens border security while making travel to South Africa faster, simpler and more secure for legitimate travellers," the Presidency said in an August 6 statement.

The system has already processed more than 203,000 applications since May, ahead of its official launch on Wednesday, according to Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber. More than 5,500 fraudulent applications have been rejected, including fraudulent passports, manipulated documents, and other fraud indicators detected through machine learning.

In his May budget vote, Schreiber said the ETA enables prospective travellers to apply for a tourist visa from a laptop or smartphone, using biometric and machine learning technology to verify identity.

The technology begins screening travellers before they reach the border. Schreiber said the system checks 40 parameters to determine whether a passport is authentic and uses liveness detection to compare an applicant's selfie with their passport photograph. At the border itself, the Border Management Authority (BMA) employs facial recognition to verify each traveller's identity and visa.

For the aviation sector, the immediate benefit is faster passenger processing. Guy Leitch, a Johannesburg-based aviation analyst, said automated passport control is "long overdue for Africa," noting that it has been in use at European ports of entry for years. Tourism accounts for a meaningful share of South Africa's GDP, and industry stakeholders have long cited visa processing delays and bureaucratic friction as barriers to growth in visitor arrivals.

However, Leitch cautioned that the technology will not resolve South Africa's broader immigration challenges.

"I would be reluctant to draw any strong connection between this and it being a solution to immigration problems," Leitch told TechCabal.

That distinction is significant. The ETA is designed for travellers passing through formal ports of entry and cannot address those who bypass them entirely.

"They are crossing rivers. They're crossing through the Kruger National Park. They are wading through rivers," Leitch said. "All of those things are not going to be affected by this at all."

He noted that the technology is aimed at making formal border processing more efficient and harder to exploit, rather than sealing every gap along South Africa's borders.

Immigration enforcement has become an increasingly fraught political issue. In June, an anti-immigration group called for undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa. Protests spread across the country, with some demonstrations involving violence and looting. The fallout extended into regional diplomacy, with Ghana and Nigeria raising concerns about the treatment of their citizens.

The government has sought to separate concerns about irregular migration from attacks on foreign nationals. President Ramaphosa has stated that everyone in South Africa must be in the country legally, while simultaneously warning citizens against taking immigration enforcement into their own hands.

Ndileka Cola, Head of Communications at Home Affairs, confirmed that the department has been working to implement systems across the country's entry points but declined to provide further details before Wednesday's launch.

"We are excited to be launching the ETA, but we are not giving out that sort of information now because that's the information that's going to be delivered at the actual launch," Cola told TechCabal in an interview on Tuesday.

Home Affairs says the ETA represents only the first phase. The department plans to expand it into a unified digital visa platform covering visitor, work, and study visas, replacing legacy systems and paper-based processes. If fully realised, the platform could reduce processing backlogs that have at times delayed work and study permits, affecting businesses and universities that rely on foreign talent and students.