Trouble for green ID books in South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs says that the old green ID books in South Africa are on their way out, and it will declare them invalid “very soon”.

Speaking to eNCA this past week, Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that the time has come for the country to drop one of the two forms of ID.

“We have been busy for the last 18 months with the CSIR to try and change our IT systems, because they are very problematic, leading to people having lots of queues.

“But in the same vein, we want to do away with the green barcode ID,” Motsoaledi said.

The minister said that the Smart ID card was produced in 2013, and “we think it’s long enough that we’ve kept dual identity documents.”

“Very soon, we will make an announcement that we will keep one, and the other one is invalid.”

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 rollout has not gone according to plan at all, with only 21 million Smart IDs issued by the end of 2023.

According to the DHA, it issued 2.6 million smart ID cards against a target of 2.2 million in the 2022/23 financial year, and was on track to achieve the 2023/24 annual target of 2.5 million, with more than 2 million smart cards issued between April and December 2023.

The department previously made it clear that the green ID book would only be declared invalid once all its centres had smart enrollment facilities for faster ID card applications.

This, too, has been a slow process.

The department has tried to speed up application and delivery of Smart IDs in the country by rolling out services to more branches, launching mobile service units, and opening satellite offices in high-traffic areas, such as major shopping malls and bank branches.

The partnership with the banks for these services has been hit with several delays, currently only operating at 30 or so branches as part of an extended “pilot” programme. On launch, as many as 40 new bank branches could be added to this, making services more widely available.

However, the Banking Association of South Africa confirmed to BusinessTech in May 2024 that the deadline of March 2024 was once again extended to September 2024 for the department and the banks to sign on.

The system has been in operation for almost nine years, with “periodical upgrades” being made. Over 3.5 million South Africans have used the bank branch system for the Smart IDs and passports, the department said.

Read: When you can expect new bank branches for Smart IDs and Passports in South Africa