Green ID book is being phased out — Ramaphosa
The Department of Home Affairs will set a date after which green ID books will no longer be recognised, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said.
Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Sunday evening about the government’s approach to illegal migration and the recent surge in protests against foreign nationals.
He said that a key part of government’s response would be to continue strengthening South Africa’s immigration system by stamping out corruption and deploying cutting-edge technology.
“We must recognise that illegal immigration is often enabled by corruption. We are continuing the crackdown on corruption and inefficiencies in the Department of Home Affairs,” Ramaphosa stated.
“Officials who sell documents, facilitate unlawful entry, or abuse public office for personal gain, betray the trust of the people of South Africa. We will pursue these cases relentlessly.”
Ramaphosa said those responsible faced dismissal, criminal prosecution, and the full consequences of the law.
“We are establishing an intelligent population register that contains biometric data for every person in the country, laying the foundation for a digital ID for all of us,” he said.
“At the same time, we will progressively discontinue the green ID books that we have, which have enabled identity theft by undocumented immigrants and criminal syndicates.”
Ramaphosa also said that government would close a loophole in a system that foreign nationals must use to register or buy vehicles in South Africa.
“We will end the abuse of the traffic registration number system, which is currently being used as a form of identification by many,” he said.
“The Department of Transport will issue new regulations to align with the identification laws of our country within the next 3 months.”
Impersonation fraud using green ID books has increased by 400% year on year in South Africa, as fraudsters increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) to exploit the legacy identity system.
South Africa’s single largest vulnerability
South African identity verification platform VerifyNow said that green ID books were South Africa’s single largest vulnerability, despite the country’s progress toward smart IDs.
In its 2026 Identity Fraud Report, VerifyNow explained that the green ID book is easily forged, non-biometric and still held by millions of people in the country.
It is estimated that 16 million South Africans were still using the green barcoded ID books amid the Department of Home Affairs’ aggressive Smart ID rollout.
In its annual performance plan for the 2026/27 financial year, Home Affairs targeted issuing 2.2 million smart ID cards in South Africa.
The department indicated quarterly targets of 506,000 to 572,000 new smart ID cards issued and was expanding its digital partnerships with South African banks to support this goal.
By the end of the financial year, the department set a target for 200 bank branches nationwide to offer digital smart ID services.
“The department will continue to expand access to smart ID and soon passport services through its digital partnership model with the banking sector,” home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said.
“These partnerships will support the long-term objective of replacing the green barcoded ID book with the more secure smart ID card,” he said.
VerifyNow said that AI-driven fraud has exploded in prevalence since 2025, with a significant portion targeting the green ID book system.
“The proliferation of generative AI tools has enabled fraud-as-a-service at scale, reducing the barrier to entry for sophisticated attacks from thousands of dollars to mere cents,” the report read.
“The convergence of generative AI, record data breaches, and expanding digital services has created a ‘perfect storm’ for identity fraud.”
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