{"id":653511,"date":"2026-06-12T08:59:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=653511"},"modified":"2026-06-12T09:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T07:00:30","slug":"comrades-marathon-drone-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/gadgets\/653511-comrades-marathon-drone-warning.html","title":{"rendered":"Comrades Marathon drone warning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has said that any unauthorised drone on the route of the upcoming Comrades Marathon will be taken down operationally in accordance with the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considered the world’s oldest ultramarathon, the Comrades Marathon is scheduled for 14 June 2026 and will see runners from across the globe race the 86km route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The entire Comrades Marathon route has been declared a no-fly zone and only authorised operational aircraft and drones will be permitted to fly,” SAPS said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Any unauthorised drone will be taken down operationally in accordance with the law,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband contacted the police to clarify what it meant by “taken down operationally” and received feedback from SAPS KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netshiunda initially told us that the drones would be shot down. He would not reveal whether live ammunition or rubber bullets would be used to take down the drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During our follow-up questions, Netshiunda then indicated that SAPS wouldn’t shoot down rogue drones but would rather employ “counterintelligence”. He would not clarify what that meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also asked whether SAPS planned to use its own drones to disable unauthorised remote-controlled aircraft, and Netshiunda confirmed that such a strategy would be too unsafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netshiunda said that this would endanger the runners and then indicated that he could not provide any more information, saying SAPS could not reveal operational details for security reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its original statement, SAPS said that various departments and entities that form part of KwaZulu-Natal’s operational and intelligence structure have developed a comprehensive operational plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Comrades Marathon Association, working together with both eThekwini Metro and Umgungundlovu traffic officials, has communicated road closures,” the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Road users are urged to cooperate with law enforcement officers during the Comrades Marathon weekend.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from unauthorised drones, police will also crack down on any displaying of banners depicting “unsavoury and or politically-aligned messages.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology deployed during the Comrades Marathon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, vehicle tracking and telematics provider Netstar announced it would deploy its real-time traffic monitoring technology across the entire marathon route on race day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that this would give marathon organisers and marshals the live intelligence they require to manage resources and deliver a better experience for everyone during the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“On race day, Netstar operatives will continuously monitor the full route from 03:00 to 19:30, using Netstar’s traffic-monitoring technology,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology will be able to track the flow of runners at high-traffic areas such as interchanges, spectator access points, and known bottlenecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When congestion builds, operatives will notify the Venue Operations Centre in real time, providing them with location, severity, estimated impact, and recommended actions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netstar also said it would deploy one of its helicopters to provide aerial coverage between 07:00 and 16:30, capturing footage of the route to support teams on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Race marshals will be equipped with the company’s StarTag tracking technology that sends their location data to the Netstar control room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sue Forge, race director of the Comrades Marathon Association, said the marathon was a national moment that belonged to all South Africans who had ever taken part in or watched the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 “In Netstar, we have found a partner that shares our commitment to making that experience better for every single person on the day,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are proud to welcome them to the Comrades family in 2026.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netstar said that its real-time traffic updates and route information will be made available to the public on the official Comrades Marathon social media platforms on the day of the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African Police Service (SAPS) initially told MyBroadband that unauthorised drones over the Comrades Marathon route would be shot down before it said it could not reveal operational details. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":653519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[37384,105848,96867,87501,55538,71620,2446,17084,98088],"class_list":["post-653511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gadgets","tag-comrades-marathon","tag-comrades-marathon-association","tag-drones-2","tag-ethekwini","tag-netstar","tag-robert-netshiunda","tag-saps","tag-south-african-police-service","tag-telematics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653511"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653664,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653511\/revisions\/653664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}