The bank has the most coverage in KwaZulu-Natal with 56 branches now Smart ID-enabled, followed by 53 in Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Western Cape has 36 active branches, 30 in the Eastern Cape, 20 in Mpumalanga, 19 in Limpopo and 13 in the Free State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North West and Northern Cape are the only provinces still in the single digits, at 9 and 6 active branches, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the service is still limited, being open only for Smart ID replacements or replacing Green ID books, and only available to Capitec clients, this is expected to expand over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capitec is leading the pack by a wide margin, with its Self-Service Terminal (SST) operating without a prior booking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Customers who apply for a smart ID through a Capitec SST are charged a fee of R150, comprising Home Affairs\u2019 standard R140 fee and a Capitec service fee of R10 that covers logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the whole process can be completed in minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to DHA Minister Leon Schreiber, the digital partnership with the banks is expanding rapidly and reducing the processing times typically associated with obtaining an ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that, with the banking partnership now at 457 branches<\/strong><\/a>, the DHA has been stripping backlogs and working much faster as a result of the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the department has recorded around 38,500 Smart ID applications that have exceeded its standard turnaround time, these are tied to client error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically, “some Smart ID Card applications…were initiated by clients online but were never followed up with office visits to complete the transaction,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, he said there are ongoing meetings with stakeholders, including Government Printing Works and the courier provider, to address potential bottlenecks with printing and dispatching of Smart ID Cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, the digital banking programme has enabled the department to reduce the number of cases requiring back-office verification, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has also improved turnaround times and quality by performing pre-verification before submitting an application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the key objectives of the Smart ID Card is to combat identity theft and record duplication, he added. This is also streamlining processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On first-issue applications, advanced biometric verification is performed on parents\/guardians. On re-issues, biometric verification is used to identify, update and store correct biometrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department has set a target of having 1,000 bank branches active with the Smart ID rollout over the medium term\u2014a target likely to be hit well ahead of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DHA said it would roll the service out to 750 branches by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Capitec already at 242 branches, and a total branch network of 860 points of presence across suburbs, townships and rural areas, the group is expected to be a cornerstone of the rollout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other banks are also catching up. Standard Bank currently has 118 bank branches listed under the digital programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FNB and Absa have also added to the growing list. FNB launched the service with 20 branches participating and plans to expand it to 240 branches nationwide by December 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Absa has 15 bank branches listed and plans to add approximately 60 more branches before the end of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding in the bank branches under the old programme, the DHA is over halfway to meeting its 2026 goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan is still to expand the services even further by moving to passport applications and other key documents, while also enabling courier delivery to cut service times even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The longer-term plan remains to integrate the services into banking apps, delivering Schreiber’s “Home Affairs @ Home” promise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Capitec has expanded its Smart ID services to over 240 branches, with Home Affairs more than halfway to hitting its goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":856723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2096890481653248358","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2198393817647684","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1798,6230],"class_list":["post-874138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-capitec","tag-smart-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874138","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=874138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":874146,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874138\/revisions\/874146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Heading to 1,000<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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