{"id":799382,"date":"2024-11-12T13:03:19","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T11:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=799382"},"modified":"2024-11-12T13:03:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T11:03:51","slug":"home-affairs-warns-people-with-green-id-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/799382\/home-affairs-warns-people-with-green-id-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Affairs warns people with green ID books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa\u2019s Department of Home Affairs has warned South Africans with green ID books that they are at risk of numerous crimes and should upgrade to Smart IDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said green ID books are extremely vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schreiber warned South Africans who still use green ID books that they are at risk of having their identities stolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fraud linked to green ID books in South Africa has reached such proportions that the Department of Home Affairs had to take decisive action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2024, the department launched an initiative to reduce the number of fraudulent documents in circulation and cancel IDs held by unauthorised persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main problem with the 16-page barcoded green ID book is that the security features did not keep track of technological advances used by criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green ID books were launched in 1980 and, at the time, provided citizens and the government with a system which served them well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, times changed. Green ID books do not have sufficient security features to stop criminals from cloning them and stealing people\u2019s identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It allows criminals to hijack people\u2019s ID numbers and use fake green ID books to access credit, loans, and other financially compromising services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tertius Wait, a cloud engineer at iiDENTIFii, explained that green ID books are susceptible to physical damage and can be compromised through general wear and tear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis fragility presents severe security risks, as damaged ID books can be easily altered or forged, making them unreliable for secure identification,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The green ID book is also impractical and inefficient. It requires in-person validation and is very difficult to integrate into digital verification systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is clearly illustrated in Smile ID\u2019s 2024 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa report, which looks at the trends related to fraud on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report found that South Africa\u2019s green ID books are the most attacked ID documents across Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green ID books have a fraud rate of 34%, much higher than driver\u2019s licenses at 14% and National IDs at 7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Move to Smart IDs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Njabulo Nzuza said it was important for South Africa to become a \u2018digital office\u2019 to root out fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said an important aspect of digitisation is eliminating green barcoded ID books and moving people to Smart ID cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the Smart ID, it is very difficult to duplicate someone\u2019s ID. That is why we are migrating everyone to a Smart ID card and phasing out the green ID books,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Smart ID cards include a chip storing the holder\u2019s data, which is laser-engraved to prevent tampering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The card\u2019s biometric features ensure that the person presenting the ID is indeed the rightful owner, significantly reducing the risk of identity fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This also enables it to be incorporated into digital verification systems and, in some cases, eliminate the need for in-person validation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart ID cards are also much more durable and resistant to tampering or forgery than the barcoded green ID book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, only 26 million Smart ID cards have been issued against a target of 38 million in the past 11 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schreiber has launched numerous initiatives to facilitate the transition from green ID books to smart ID cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these is deploying 227 mobile units with the same capabilities to extend these services to underserved areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also working on other ways to fast-track the migration from green ID books to smart IDs, including partnering with banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently 30 bank branches where people can get smart IDs, with more in the pipeline. It will also expand into shopping malls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department further revealed that it is investigating the rollout of ATM-like kiosks that will enable self-service document re-issuance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: New driving laws for South Africa still coming<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s Department of Home Affairs has warned South Africans with green ID books that they are at risk of numerous crimes and should upgrade to Smart IDs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":778978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[20610,20612,20966,6230],"class_list":["post-799382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-department-of-home-affairs-dha","tag-leon-schreiber","tag-njabulo-nzuza","tag-smart-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799382"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":799433,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799382\/revisions\/799433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}