Emergency response tech platform Aura has partnered with Discovery Insure as more South Africans invest in private emergency solutions. (Images: Vladan Radulovic / iStock) The spaces between performing chest compressions are filled with a unique kind of trauma, especially when a tragic outcome feels inevitable. A certified responder is trained never to cease resuscitation until relieved by paramedics — but in the domestic sphere, that wait can stretch into hours. To bridge this systemic gap, South Africans are increasingly investing in private emergency solutions, prompting private insurers to rapidly integrate these life-saving services into their product offerings.
When Daily Maverick asked emergency response tech platform Aura why it continues to partner with other companies — the latest being Discovery Insure — instead of bidding for government contracts to deliver its panic-button solution at scale, the answer was predictable.
“Our focus is on a B2B2C [business-to-business-to-consumer], private-sector-led model, where security response capability is embedded directly into the platforms people already use every day,” explained Justin Suttner, Aura’s general manager for sub-Saharan Africa. “We believe this is the most effective way to close the response gap when a security incident occurs.”
Armed response
Private security is already a domestic staple of the middle to upper-income households as SA crime statistics swell through the recognisable seasonal patterns.
And the armed response capability was the foundation stone of Aura’s success. “Aura has built its own aggregated response marketplace,” said Suttner.
“Rather than operating security vehicles ourselves, we partner directly with thousands of independent response providers across the country, including armed response companies, private medical services, roadside assistance providers and other specialist responders.”
The Discovery partnership is not Aura’s first venture into direct-to-consumer experiences. In 2025, the platform teamed up with Samsung to launch Samsung SOS+, bundled with a complimentary 12-month subscription for new Galaxy A-series buyers.
It was a pilot project for Samsung global that, in the words of Samsung SA vice-president Justin Hume, was an uncomfortable success — because the higher-end device customers felt hard done by when the service launched with the mid-tier offerings.
“What surprised me the most is two things. Firstly, the interest of this product is actually higher in our higher-end segment. And I think it’s because there’s an appreciation of what it’s actually worth,” Hume told Daily Maverick at the launch of the flagship, R40,000 Galaxy Z Fold 7 in September 2025.
/file/attachments/2986/JustinHumeSamsungSAVP_317947.jpg "Samsung SA vice-president Justin Hume. (Photo: Supplied)")
What the company found was scepticism among the lower-income Samsung customers, who didn’t want to believe that they were getting a year of free emergency response as a perk of their modest smartphone purchase.
Not used to nice things
As if to underline the failing state of the national emergency response systems, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) did not inspire confidence when FF+ MP Heloise Denner questioned the circumstances around extending the validity period of State Information Technology Agency (Sita) RFP 3065-2024.
The 2024 tender was to upgrade the SA Police Service’s (SAPS’) 10111 integrated management system, but collapsed because an official failed to send validity extension letters to bidders before the expiry date.
Consequently, the bid validity lapsed, forcing a complete cancellation of the adjudication process. While the system remains operational, the software supplied by Cisco has reached its end of life.
To close out its detailed response, the ministry wrote:
“There are no operational risks associated with the 10111 system, noting that SITA continues to proactively support and effectively maintain the national 10111 telephony system. The department will continue to follow developments and if any acts of wrongdoing are found, the DCDT will ensure the appropriate consequence management will be applied.”
The SAPS is heavily dependent on Sita, spending an average of R1.7-billion annually on related IT costs, of which R897-million is allocated strictly for operational support.
But, despite this massive expenditure, performance reports reveal evidence of multiple inefficiencies experienced with Sita, particularly in terms of providing reliable and dedicated support.
In the 2018/19 financial year, the SAPS received a qualified audit opinion directly linked to Sita entering into contracts on behalf of the SAPS that deviated from procurement processes and infringed the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
Into the quagmire
While private companies are heavily investing in real-time, Application Programming Interface-driven dispatch systems, the SAPS is underinvesting in its own equivalents. The department spends a mere R2.9-million per annum maintaining the GEMC3, shorthand for the Global Emergency Mobile Communications Command and Control, emergency response system.
That is a paltry figure in comparison to the R13.5-million that the SAPS spends annually on internal administrative/financial systems. This minimal investment directly limits the SAPS’s ability to efficiently manage incidents routed through the 10111 or 112 channels.
By contrast, in 2024, Aura facilitated 33,079 of what Suttner calls “real emergency callouts”. That number more than doubled in 2025, reaching 71,908 callouts, representing a year-on-year growth of approximately 117%.
Overall, since the platform launched in 2017, it has reportedly facilitated more than 900,000 emergency activations. The most common types of distress calls it receives are for vehicle breakdowns and reports of suspicious activity.
I still recall the helplessness of watching my wife — a trained first aider — desperately performing chest compressions on her dying father, while I struggled to articulate our address to an emergency dispatcher.
On a Samsung Galaxy A36, help could’ve been there in three minutes, not the more than 20 agonising minutes it took for a friend in the emergency response minutes to drive outside of their jurisdiction. DM