Big problem with green ID books and driving licence cards

The South African green ID book and driving licence card are particularly attractive targets for fraudsters in Africa, a report from a leading digital identity verification and fraud detection firm shows.

Smile ID’s Digital Identity Fraud 2024 report reveals that its Know-Your-Customer (KYC) checks had flagged fraud in 34% of the cases where South African ID books were used to gain access to various services.

The firm said national IDs were regularly targeted because they were the most common form of government identification and mandatory for most adults.

South Africa is busy replacing its green ID books — which have been in use since the 1960s — with smart ID cards.

The cards feature improved anti-fraud features, including a microchip that can securely store the cardholder’s biometric information, which can be verified without needing to be linked to a central database.

Physical security measures include holograms, laser engraving, and personal details.

However, the process has dragged on for much longer than initially anticipated.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) first introduced the card in 2013.

In a gazette published on 28 June 2013, former home affairs minister Naledi Pandor said she would set a date for green ID books to become invalid “within three years”, suggesting the phasing out of the old document would begin in 2016.

Pandor also said it would take six to eight years before all South Africans would have smart ID cards, implying that the ID book would become invalid between 2019 and 2021.

Over a decade after the launch and eight years after smart ID card applications were opened to the broader public, about 26 million smart ID cards had been issued.

That is against an original target of 38 million green ID books estimated to be in rotation in 2013.

The department currently issues fewer than 3 million cards per year, so it would take at least another four years before the original target is met.

That target excludes any ID books issued since the smart ID cards were launched.

Replaced ID books not getting discarded

Ironically, Smile ID said that the switchover to new IDs could increase fraud — at least for as long as the old document remained a valid means of identification.

“Logistical issues around properly discarding the older IDs can lead to them falling into the wrong hands,” Smile ID said.

“An excellent example is South Africa, where the older green ID book saw significant fraud targeting.”

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) determines that a green ID book must be handed in by those who receive their smart ID cards.

The document is then supposed to be destroyed, which appears not to be happening in all cases.

This could either be due to incompetence or corrupt officials, which have often brought the DHA into disrepute.

The table below from Smile ID shows the top 19 IDs most frequently targeted by fraudsters across Africa.

Driving licence card targeted

Smile ID also ranked the South African driving licence card as the 11th most targeted ID document and the most targeted driving licence card of all countries.

In 14% of cases where it was used to confirm an applicant’s identity for a service, the licence cards were forged.

South Africa also plans to replace its current driving licence cards with modernised cards that will be more difficult to forge, but this has also faced significant delays.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s previous cabinet approved the rollout of the revamped card on 30 August 2022, and former transport minister Fikile Mbalula promised that a new card printing machine would soon be up and running.

However, after the Department of Transport (DoT) missed several of its own deadlines in the card’s rollout plan, the exact timelines are now shrouded in mystery.

According to former minister Fikile Mbalula, the DoT was originally supposed to pilot the new card in November 2023 and launch it to the general public by the end of March 2024.

The old card would then have been phased out by 30 March 2029.

However, Mbalula’s replacement — Sindisiwe Chikunga — announced a new launch date by the end of April 2024.

In her last feedback on the matter, before President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a new cabinet following the national elections, Chikunga said the DoT was at the tail-end of procuring the machine.

“Before the end of April, we will be printing new driving licence cards and will launch at least the first 100 per province, as we have said. We are moving in that regard,” she said.

In early June 2024, the DoT said it was “on track” to deliver the new card and printer following initial challenges with finding a suitable service provider.

The department explained it first advertised a tender for a service provider on 10 November 2022. This produced no successful bidder, and the tender was again published on 5 April 2023.

Five bidders are now being considered to provide the new printer and card.

“With the evaluation and adjudication of the bids completed, the Department is almost at a brink of pronouncing a new dawn in the driving licence card environment, with the audit process being the only last hurdle standing in the way,” the department said.

“The Department pleads for patience as it is prohibited by law not to poke its nose into the affairs of the bidding committees.”