Important information for people who still have green ID books
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has given more detail on his plans to discontinue the green ID book in South Africa, which he hopes to stop issuing by the end of the year.
Green ID books are at high risk of fraud, and Home Affairs hopes to discontinue the document by rapidly expand access to Smart ID cards via further partnerships with bank and the use of technology.
This will be accomplished by rolling out an entirely new live capture system, that will allow hundreds of bank branches and other service centres to issue Smart IDs.
Through its Annual Performance Plan and various media engagements, the department announced the following timeline:
- Roll out new live capture system to remaining Home Affairs departments
- Roll out the live capture system and onboard 100 more bank branches by March 2026
- Stop issuing green ID books by the end of the year
- Roll out the live capture system and onboard 1000 more bank branches by March 2028
- Discontinue the green ID book by end of 2029
Speaking on the DA’s Podcast, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said South Africa will have to stop using green ID books as they are incredibly prone to fraud.
He said that they are the most defrauded form of identity document in Africa, with many of the stories related to identity theft often including them, especially in the financial services sector.
To further highlight the problem, Schreiber said that 18 million people still have green ID books.
However, he admitted that many South Africans still have their old books due to problems associated with access.
He added that Home Affairs is central to the problem, as it still produces green ID books.
About a quarter of its 430 branches have not been modernised to issue Smart IDs, and these locations can only issue green ID books.
This issue is one of Home Affairs’ central targets, with the hope that it will stop production of green ID books by the end of the year.
Schreiber said that the department will try to follow the example of banks, where one’s data is essentially seen as currency, but does not belong to Home Affairs.
He noted that there will be a massive shift to technology, where data is decentralised but still highly secure.
This is very similar to banks and will be rolled out at first in areas where access to Home Affairs systems is lacking.
Bank branches expansion
On top of following the example of banks, Schreiber said that Home Affairs wants to expand its public-private partnership where bank branches offer Home Affairs systems.
He noted that there are only 30 branches that offer this service, close to a decade after it was launched, with many of these branches in urban areas.
Although the model works, he said it still hasn’t been scaled.
A common complaint is that there are no available slots on e-Home Affairs, which the minister links to the small number of banks that offer the service.
He added that most of the locations at branches are simply carbon copies of existing Home Affairs branches, where Home Affairs staff manage the system.
However, he said that Home Affairs only meets 40% of its human resource requirements, meaning it will never have the necessary number of people to make the bank branch system work.
The solution is integrating the Home Affairs system with the bank’s systems. Most banks already use Home Affairs’ system for verification (which has recently led to a spat between Schreiber and Tyme Bank).
“Once we get it right, there’s no reason that every bank branch can’t offer it. It becomes an online integrated system. All you need is a camera and a fingerprint scanner,” said the minister.
“Home Affairs will still control the pipeline. You will still need your face and your fingerprint. We will control the safety. It is far safer to do so digitally than to have a person there.”
He believes the department can get into new bank branches by the end of this year. In 2026, he hopes to use the same principle to access apps like the banks.
South Africans can already use banking apps to access other government services, such as paying electricity or getting a car licence, and the Minister hopes to add a Home Affairs logo.
“When we say ‘Home Affairs at Home,’ that’s what we mean. We want to bring Home Affairs to you, instead of you standing in a queue.”
Loading ...