4 June 2013
Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor has become the first person to receive one of South Africa’s new smart ID cards, containing biometric data embedded in a microchip and designed to cut down on fraud while enabling faster delivery of government services.
The minister’s state-of-the-art new ID was delivered to her office in Pretoria on Tuesday.
South Africa will begin rolling out the new smart card IDs from next month, issuing them to to all first-time and re-issue applicants.
The Department of Home Affairs plans to issue the smart card ID to all South Africans over the next eight years as it phases out the current green bar-coded ID book.
To begin with, 27 Home Affairs regional offices, three in each province, will process smart card IDs, with more offices to follow suit over the next three years.
Containing microchips embedded with biometric data unique to each individual, and with the information laser-engraved on the chip to prevent tampering, the new IDs will be near impossible to forge, according to the department.
Besides cutting down on identity theft and fraud, the smart IDs will speed up the process of establishing a modern, reliable population register.
The cost of the new IDs will be the same as the amount paid for the green bar-coded IDs, which currently cost R140. IDs are free for first-time applicants.
According to Pandor, the new ID will take about three days for applicants to receive – compared to a 54-day turnaround time for the green bar-coded ID.
Altech Card Solutions and Gemalto Southern Africa, the successful bidders for the production of the smart ID cards, were announced last month.
SAnews.gov.za and SAinfo reporter
