The end of green ID books in South Africa
South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber, said his department wants to stop issuing green ID books in 2025.
Speaking to eNCA, Schreiber said that the Department of Home Affairs wants to “get its house in order” to issue only Smart ID cards in the future.
“It is an internal target we are working towards to ensure that our department is fully invested in issuing Smart IDs,” he said.
After this target has been achieved, the department will look at targets to eliminate green ID books and replace them with Smart ID cards.
Schreiber said that people who still use green ID books have no reason to panic as they will remain valid for this year and beyond.
This announcement followed a warning from Schreiber last year that people using green ID books pose a significant security risk to their users.
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Njabulo Nzuza said green ID books are behind most identity theft in South Africa.
Often, stolen identities are used to access credit, loans, or apply for higher education, creating significant headaches for the rightful holder of the ID.
“With the Smart ID, it is very difficult to duplicate someone’s ID. That is why we are migrating everyone to a Smart ID card and phasing out the green ID books,” Nzuza said.
The card’s biometric features ensure that the person presenting the ID is indeed the rightful owner, significantly reducing the risk of identity fraud.
This also enables it to be incorporated into digital verification systems and, in some cases, eliminate the need for in-person validation.
Additionally, linking biometric data with SIM cards is being explored to enhance security further. This integration can prevent fraudulent SIM card activations, ensuring that only the rightful owner can use the SIM card.
However, Home Affairs has repeatedly missed its own targets to replace the green ID books, which it initially planned to eliminate by 2021.
So far, only 26 million Smart ID cards have been issued against a target of 38 million in the past 11 years.
The government has only managed to roll out systems to issue Smart ID cards to two-thirds of its offices.
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