Getting rid of green ID books in South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) would struggle to justify a deadline for the expiry of green ID books in the near future as its smart ID card issuing capacity is far too limited.

Former home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi has caused panic after an interview on E-tv News in which he said that the DHA would “very soon” announce that the green ID book would become invalid and be fully replaced by the newer Smart ID card.

“We want to do away with the green barcode ID. We think it’s long enough that we’ve kept dual identity documents,” said Motsoaledi.

The minister urged South Africans to apply for their Smart ID cards so they would not be left in the lurch when the promised announcement of the expiry came.

The DHA’s deputy director general Thulani Mavuso subsequently told 702 that the department expects to phase out the green ID books in the next two to three years, although no timelines had been set in stone.

Mavuso said that the department had issued roughly 26 million Smart IDs to date and was issuing around 3 million ID cards annually.

That is a bit of an exaggeration, as the actual figure in the past financial year was closer to 2.5 million.

The DHA estimated around 38 million green ID books were in circulation in 2013 when it launched the Smart ID card.

At the current issuing rate, it would take at least another five years to reach the original target of 38 million, which it previously aimed to achieve by 2022 at the latest.

Mavuso said it had “always been the plan” that the ID book would be discontinued when the DHA reached 38 million Smart ID cards.

There is one major issue with sticking by the 38 million figure—numerous new green ID books have been issued since 2013.

Many DHA offices did not support the Live Capture systems for Smart ID cards for years after they were launched and some still do not.

Estimating new ID books

To estimate how many new green ID books might have been issued over the past 11 years, we examined the Department of Basic Education’s high school enrolment data.

This showed that well over a million children are admitted into Grade 10 every year. Most turn 16 in that year, making them eligible for an identification document.

According to the Department of Education’s School Realities report, around 11 million children have been admitted into Grade 10 since 2014. That excludes 2024’s admissions, which are yet to be confirmed.

It should be noted that many children drop out of school before reaching Grade 10, so the actual number who turned 16 and might have been issued with an ID book could be higher.

Assuming that around 50% of schooled individuals received Smart ID cards from 2014, there would have been another 5.5 million issued a green ID book.

In addition, numerous people have received a new green ID book because their previous document was lost, stolen, or damaged, and their preferred DHA branch does not yet support the Smart ID card application.

One factor that could have decreased the number of ID books that need to be replaced is the number of ID book holders who have died since 2013.

Roughly 500,000 to 600,000 South Africans died every year between 2013 and 2023.

Over the 11 years since the Smart ID was launched, that would mean the number of ID books that need to be replaced could have been shed by up to 6.6 million.

However, the deaths also included those of children and adults who did not have ID books.

Regardless, these factors show that the DHA would need to determine a new estimate of the number of green ID books in use before it can set an expiry date.

Born into smart ID privilege

Another major issue is that Smart ID cards are unavailable to naturalised citizens or people with permanent residency.

The Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative and Democratic Alliance have slammed the lack of support as discriminatory.

One factor that could change the outlook in favour of the DHA’s expected timelines is drastically ramping up bank branch-based eHomeAffairs services.

However, it would have to be scaled up dramatically.

While the Smart ID card application process at banks has received praise for its efficiency, less than 700,000 people have acquired their Smart ID cards through this method since 2016.

The number of branches that support the service has hovered between 20 and 30 for several years as the finalisation of the DHA’s agreement with banks to expand the programme has repeatedly been delayed.

Addressing these challenges now falls to incoming home affairs minister Leon Schreiber from the DA, who Ramaphosa appointed to his cabinet on 30 June.