New ID system for South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government will implement a new digital identity system supported by enhanced digital public infrastructure.

Ramaphosa shared information about the new ID system during his 2025 State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on 6 February.

“We will invest in digital public infrastructure to give South Africans access to government services anytime, anywhere, through a relaunched gov.za platform,” he said.

He added that at the heart of this transformation will be the implementation of a digital identity system.

“These measures will transform the relationship between citizens and government and create one government accessible to every person at a touch,” he said.

The new digital identity system is a collaborative project between the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the SA Reserve Bank, and the Department of Home Affairs.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter previously explained that every citizen will get a single, unique digital identifier (UDI) and an accompanying card.

Any transaction with the government could be attached to the UID to ensure that the various government branches could know exactly who they were dealing with.

Identities can be authenticated with fingerprints. Once authenticated, things like state subsidies can be transferred directly to a bank account linked to the ID.

The new digital ID system will have significant benefits for the South African Revenue Service, Kieswetter said.

South Africans currently have numerous unique identifiers, including an ID number and a tax number, one for registering a company and another for being a hospital patient.

“I appear in the system in many different identities which allows for arbitrage, so I can be employed and get a social grant because the system doesn’t pick me up,” he said.

Kieswetter said that the current system, with various platforms having their own identifiers, creates multiple opportunities for corruption.

He said that having a single, unique digital identifier and an accompanying card would remove many of these risks.