{"id":875461,"date":"2026-09-15T09:51:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T07:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=875461"},"modified":"2026-09-15T09:51:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T07:51:46","slug":"2-year-warning-for-anyone-with-green-id-books-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/875461\/2-year-warning-for-anyone-with-green-id-books-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"2-year warning for anyone with Green ID books in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans who still use the old green bar-coded identity document have been warned to replace it with a smart ID card within the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Home Affairs Deputy Director-General for Operations Thulani Mavuso, who said the Department of Home Affairs is moving towards phasing out the vulnerable document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in an interview with Newszroom Afrika<\/a>, Mavuso said the process to replace green ID books had already started, although the final timelines still need to be announced by the minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe message is that we have to collect those documents because in the next two years, they will not be able to use their green ID book<\/strong>,\u201d Mavuso said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the minister would announce the precise timelines at an appropriate time, but stressed that South Africans should not wait until the final deadline approaches before applying for a smart ID card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning comes as Home Affairs continues its drive to move citizens from the older green ID books to the more secure smart ID cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mavuso said the green ID book had been identified as a vulnerable document that is too easily manipulated by criminals and needed to be phased out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mavuso, the process is underway, and South Africans should take advantage of the department\u2019s expanded network of application and collection points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the department had issued about 34 million smart ID cards since their introduction. Of these, around 25 million were reissues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another 9.7 million were new applications from young people becoming eligible for identity documents and voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, more than 341,000 smart ID cards remain uncollected across the country. Some have been waiting for collection for almost 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department has also expanded access through participating bank branches. Mavuso said these banks had issued about 700,000 smart ID cards between March and the second week of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that this has helped to increase the number of locations where people can apply for and collect their documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smart ID card will become increasingly important <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Home Affairs Deputy Director-General for Operations Thulani Mavuso<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The department has also urged people who have already applied for smart ID cards to collect them rather than leaving them at Home Affairs offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mavuso said the department had found that many of the uncollected first-time smart ID cards belonged to young people who had turned 16. He urged parents to ensure their children collect their documents after applying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we just want to really encourage the parents that while your child has already turned 16, they\u2019ve applied for the smart ID card, please collect it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mavuso also stressed that the smart ID card will become increasingly important for everyday transactions once the green ID book is no longer accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is critical that a person carries this document because it\u2019s going to be the only legal document that you can be able to show in terms of the transactions, particularly with financial institutions and others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For people who have lost or damaged their IDs, Home Affairs can issue a temporary identification certificate while a replacement application is processed. Mavuso said the certificate can also be used for voting purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Home Affairs had also introduced measures to make the collection process easier, including prioritising elderly people, people with disabilities and children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africans who still use the old green bar-coded identity document have been warned to replace it with a smart ID card within the next two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":859695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":"2099768200900514147","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2206039143549818","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[21441,2524,853],"class_list":["post-875461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-green-id-book","tag-home-affairs","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875461","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875479,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875461\/revisions\/875479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}