Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the government is ramping up its \u201cHome Affairs @ home\u201d initiative to make getting a new passport or smart ID easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Home Affairs is also on a drive to phase out green ID books and wants to stop issuing them in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is an internal target we are working towards to ensure that our department is fully invested in issuing smart IDs,\u201d Schreiber said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, phasing out green ID books means the department must improve its operations and ensure smart ID cards can be issued across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schreiber said they want to make applying for a new smart ID card or passport easy and pleasant, which is currently not the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most South Africans dread visiting a Department of Home Affairs branch because it is associated with long queues, poor service levels, and offline systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Schreiber\u2019s leadership, the department wants to make dealing with the department a pleasure and make getting a new document easier and faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This first step was to use mobile Department of Home Affairs units to reach areas where the service was unavailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has also invested in new office space, especially in shopping malls, to bring its services closer to citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next phase is to invest more aggressively in partnerships to expand its footprint, which includes adding more bank branches to its network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Home Affairs is currently present in 30 bank branches across South Africa, which will increase significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to dramatically expand our presence and cooperation with these banks. We are looking to rapidly grow this network,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am determined to expand Home Affairs services to hundreds of bank branches across the length and breadth of South Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan includes covering all nine provinces through Home Affairs offices in bank branches, making it much easier for citizens to interact with the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schreiber told Daily Investor that the department\u2019s biggest priority this year is to deliver \u201cHome Affairs @ home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will be rolling out additional channels for clients to obtain smart ID and passport services without requiring them to visit our offices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apart from partnering with banks, it will introduce digital channels similar to online banking, enabling clients to have IDs and passports delivered to their doorsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll of these reforms are part of incrementally bringing Home Affairs closer to home for all South Africans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said \u2018Home Affairs @ home\u2019 has the potential to redefine how the government works in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schreiber wants to turn Home Affairs into a digital-first department which is truly fit for the digital age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to revolutionise government similar to the way in which banking was revolutionised by the advent of online banking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the government is ramping up its \u201cHome Affairs @ home\u201d initiative to make getting a new passport or smart ID easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":779183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[6239,21441,20612,8865,6230],"class_list":["post-807282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-department-of-home-affairs","tag-green-id-book","tag-leon-schreiber","tag-passport","tag-smart-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807282","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=807282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807283,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807282\/revisions\/807283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}