The Department of Home Affairs has announced plans to phase out South Africa’s green ID books more than ten years after introducing the smart ID card.
E-tv news recently interviewed home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who said his department would soon announce that South Africa’s old green ID books were no longer valid.
“We want to do away with the green barcode ID. We think it’s long enough that we’ve kept dual identity documents,” said Motsoaledi.
“Very soon, we will make an announcement that we will keep one, and the other (green barcode) becomes invalid.
He urged South African citizens to upgrade their books to cards so they would not be left behind when the announcement came.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) introduced smart ID cards in July 2013 with the intention of phasing out the green ID booklets from 2018 to 2022.
However, the rate of adoption of smart ID cards was too slow to meet the timeline.
Adoption was held back by the slow rollout of biometric capture systems to Home Affairs branches needed for the cards.
Additionally, smart IDs are only available to people born in South Africa and not naturalised citizens.
Smart ID cards offer various benefits. They contain a microchip that stores a citizen’s data, such as biometric information.
They can be used to verify biometrics without requiring a connection to a central database, which the DHA says enhances citizens’ privacy.
They also feature various visual characteristics to prevent forgery and a durable polycarbonate card body.
When the DHA first announced its timelines for phasing out the green ID book, it was estimated that there were roughly 38 million South African ID holders.
It initially planned to phase them out within five to seven years. However, it revised the timeline and estimated it would take eight years from 2014.
Based on that estimate, the DHA was meant to have stopped issuing green ID books in 2022.
However, the DHA later assured that it would only announce an expiry date for South Africa’s green ID books once all its centres had smart enrollment facilities for faster ID card applications.
“We wish to make it clear that the green barcoded ID book remains a legal form of identification and will continue to be until such time that the Live Capture System is rolled out to all Home Affairs offices,” it said.
Aaron Motsoaledi, minister of home affairs
The latest figures — from June 2024 — show that the DHA has rolled out the system to 202 of its branches.
This, and the fact that only 13 million smart ID cards had been issued by 2019, indicated that the DHA still has a long way to go before expiring green ID books.
Moreover, in December 2023, the department revealed that the figure had increased to just 21 million.
This is equivalent to approximately 55% of the 38 million ID cards estimated to be in circulation in 2019.
However, a large portion of the 21 million smart ID holders are likely South Africans who never had a green ID booklet, such as citizens who have turned 16.
Motsoaledi recently revealed that his department was on track to achieve its target of issuing 2.5 million smart ID cards in the 2023/24 financial year.
At this rate, the DHA would not be able to issue 17 million more ID cards until the 2030/31 financial year.
Another contributor to the slow uptake of smart ID cards is repeated setbacks in DHA’s finalising of agreements with South African banks to offer smart ID enrolments and collections at bank branches.
The service is currently available at 30 bank branches across South Africa and offers citizens a more convenient means of applying for a smart ID card and renewing passports.
Since its launch in 2016, more than 665,000 South Africans have applied for and received their smart ID card from a bank branch.
Those looking to apply for a smart ID card can book an appointment and pay for it online via the eHomeAffairs platform.
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