Grade A · 12 Aug 2026
SA Government - Minister Schreiber ETA launch speech
Supports the reported status: Deployed · limited scope.
O.R. Tambo International Airport
South Africa Electronic Travel Authorisation and EMCS 2.0 facial verification at four airports
Current reported state
Deployed · limited scope
South Africa's Electronic Travel Authorisation went live at O.R. Tambo, Cape Town, King Shaka and Lanseria airports, Home Affairs minister Leon Schreiber said in his launch speech on 12 August 2026. The ETA works with EMCS 2.0, the Border Management Authority's upgraded movement-control system, which uses facial verification at international airports, and the minister said 216,204 applications were processed in the pilot.
ITWeb reported on 13 August 2026 that 6,126 fraudulent applications, 2.8% of submissions from the pilot countries, had been rejected. It also reported that linking the ETA and EMCS 2.0 to ACSA's automated eGates was still a work in progress. The application and fraud figures are the government's own, from the launch period.
What supports the record?
Sources are attached to individual claims. An operator statement supports a reported status; it does not, on its own, establish an independently measured benefit.
Grade B · 13 Aug 2026
ITWeb
Supports the reported status: Deployed · limited scope.
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