Important message from Home Affairs Minister to South Africans with green ID books

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber urged South Africans who still have green ID books to replace them with Smart ID cards at a bank branch close to them.

“Less than two months after we launched our digital partnership with the banks, we have already processed 100,000 Smart ID transactions,” he said.

The Minister said that over 146 bank branches are now live in all nine provinces across South Africa.

“This enabled South Africans to switch from the vulnerable green ID book or replace their smart ID card if they have lost it,” he said.

He explained that the new application process for a smart ID card at a bank branch takes as little as five minutes.

“It’s never been easier to switch. Now is the time to replace your old Green ID with a secure Smart ID card,” he said in a statement.

He urged South Africans to visit the Department of Home Affairs website and check which bank branch near them accepts applications.

Schreiber previously highlighted that approximately 16 million South Africans still rely on the green ID book.

“The green ID book is widely recognised as one of the most defrauded documents on the African continent,” he said.

Due to their decades-old paper-based design, green ID books are easy to forge and manipulate.

Syndicates that collaborated with corrupt Home Affairs officials exploited these weaknesses to obtain fraudulent green ID books for foreigners.

“Accelerating the transition to the Smart ID is therefore critical to strengthening the country’s identity system and protecting citizens from identity fraud.”

Home Affairs aims to achieve the universal enrolment of the smart ID system in South Africa, which will allow it to discontinue the old green bar-coded ID book.

Home Affairs @ home programme

The Department of Home Affairs launched its new Digital Partnership Model with South Africa’s banking sector on 9 March 2026.

The new model offers a modern, fully digital experience where it takes just minutes for an applicant to complete a secure Smart ID application.

The model uses technology which is integrated with their local bank branch in the community where they live.

“This initiative represents a major step change in the Department’s ongoing reform programme, Home Affairs @ home,” Schreiber said,

“The programme embraces digital transformation to remake how South Africans access identity and civic services.”

“By modernising and extending the Online Verification Service, the department is decentralising and expanding the number of service points.”

The launch two months ago means South Africans can visit branches of participating banks, including Capitec Bank, Standard Bank, and FNB, to apply for Smart IDs.

He explained that participating banks connect directly to Home Affairs systems through a secure API-based Digital Gateway.

This allows applications to be completed within a matter of minutes through the bank’s own service environment, without the need to fill in a single piece of paper.

The Minister committed to extending the service in a phased approach to every corner of South Africa over the coming year.

The Department’s Medium-Term Development Plan is committed to scaling the new Digital Partnership Model to 1,000 participating bank branches by 2029.

This will dramatically increase access to services and ensure the end of long queues at Home Affairs offices.

The bank branches where South Africans can get a new Smart ID