South Africa kisses green ID books goodbye

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has announced that it will cease issuing green ID books and aims to eliminate their use nationwide in South Africa.

South Africa launched the green ID book in 1980 as an alternative to the blue book, which had been in use since 1972.

The new green ID books featured a 13-digit ID number and were a significant upgrade over the previous system.

In July 1996, the DHA introduced a revised ID book comprising just eight pages. It also featured a scannable barcode and required biometric fingerprint capturing.

The biometric data was stored on the National Population Register, which could be referenced by scanning the barcode.

Although it was cutting-edge at the time, technology has advanced significantly since then and made the green ID books vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber warned South Africans who still use green ID books that they face significant risks.

His department was behind numerous arrests and prosecutions of criminals engaged in identity theft and fraud, and in most cases, green ID books were used.

The increased problems with green ID books mean the Department of Home Affairs wants to phase them out in South Africa.

The Department of Home Affairs’ Strategic Plan through to 2030 revealed that it wants to stop issuing green ID books in the mid-term, circa 2027.

The department also wants to ensure universal enrolment in the country’s smart ID system by the end of 2029.

To achieve this, the department set the broader goal of ensuring all South Africans have access to smart IDs, digital IDs, and e-Passports. This indudes:

• Replacing green barcoded ID books with Smart ID cards.
• Introducing a digital ID with remote authentication.
• Significantly ramping up the number of bank branches with live capture functionality.
• Introducing and issuing e-passports.

The DHA said that the strategy is to move towards digital documentation, including creating a digital ID and digital wallet.

During the medium term, a stronger focus will be placed on increasing access to Smart IDs through an accelerated rollout of the Smart ID card to all eligible persons.

Smart IDs are currently available to all qualifying South Africans. However, system issues and blockages have delayed the rollout to residents and naturalised citizens.

“The main aim is to ensure eligible citizens have smart ID cards and to ultimately discontinue the issuance of the green barcoded ID book,” it said.

“The issuance of smart ID cards will be expanded to naturalised citizens and permanent residents.”

Barcoded green ID books are still being issued at non-modernised offices. The aim is to modernise more offices and ramp up the issuance of Smart IDs instead.