End of green ID books in South Africa

South Africans with green ID books have two years to get a smart ID card as Home Affairs withdraws support for the old documents. 

This shift has been driven by the enhanced security of the smart ID card, as green ID books are increasingly being forged and manipulated to facilitate crime. 

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the green ID book is the most forged document in Africa and costs the country billions of rands a year in fraud. 

A major challenge to ending the use of the green ID book has been Home Affairs’ inability to make it easy to get a new smart ID card.

Its branches have become synonymous with inefficiency and poor service delivery, leaving many South Africans to avoid interacting with it at all costs. 

Home Affairs’ deputy director-general Thulani Mavuso told Newzroom Afrika that its partnership with commercial banks has changed this. 

Now the department can reach every community in South Africa and can efficiently process applications for smart ID cards. 

“There are more than 450 participating bank branches, and this has greatly increased our footprint. These branches have distributed 700,000 smart ID cards since March,” Mavuso explained. 

While smart ID cards are still printed centrally in Pretoria, these branches provide a distributed network to process new applications and replacements. 

They alleviate pressure on Home Affairs’ existing offices, freeing the department’s officials to handle more complex requests. 

Mavuso explained that the department is using this platform to push for the eradication of the green ID book in South Africa. 

“If you are carrying that particular green ID book, it does not serve any purpose. It is better to replace it now with the smart ID card, which is secure,” he said. 

“The message is that they have to collect those documents because in the coming two years, they will not be able to use their green ID books.” 

Mavuso said the minister will announce the timelines, with there being a clear process to bring about the end of the green ID book. 

Green ID book fraud

Mavuso said the expansion of services to bank branches is to ensure that the millions of South Africans with green ID books can easily replace them. 

“The expansion is designed deliberately to ensure that we have not denied anybody access to the mechanism to convert to a smart ID card,” he said. 

“Post the elections in November, it is critical that a person carries a smart ID card with them, because it will soon be the only legal document that you can use to interact with banks and other institutions.” 

Schreiber has previously said that 16 million green ID books remain in use in South Africa, exposing the country to significant fraud. 

“The expansion through bank branches is about protecting the identity of South Africans and of South Africa,” Schreiber said. 

“16 million South Africans still rely on the green ID book, a document which is widely recognised as one of the most laundered on the African continent.”

The fraud linked to weak identity systems costs South Africa billions of rands every year, with the green ID book being outdated. 

“It is a no-brainer that we have a common interest in this project to eradicate the scourge of identity theft, which is linked to the green ID book,” Schreiber said. 

The use of physical photographs on green ID books makes them among the easiest documents to manipulate, leading to fraud. 

Smart ID cards are far more difficult to manipulate, and Home Affairs has invested heavily to make the process as digital as possible. 

This removes the opportunity for Home Affairs officials to manipulate documents and engage in identity theft and other crimes. 

“When I assumed office, I found that nearly a third of existing Home Affairs offices do not even have the capability to handle smart ID applications,” Schreiber said. 

These offices were still producing green ID books despite the obvious potential for fraud, forgery, and manipulation. 

“It is all ultimately about manipulation, about the ability to change an outcome. That is only possible with a manual system,” Schreiber said.