12-year smart ID problem in South Africa

Nearly 12 years after its introduction, the smart ID card is still not available for permanent residents in South Africa.

The smart ID card was launched in 2013 as the planned replacement for the decades-old paper ID book, which had become susceptible to fraud and forgery.

Initially, the government prioritised rollouts of the document to first-time ID applicants before expanding it to existing green ID book holders in 2016. By last year, it had issued over 26 million smart ID cards.

However, up to December 2023, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) only allowed South Africans born in the country to apply.

Permanent residents, naturalised citizens, or citizens through ancestry had to apply for a green ID book if their document was lost, stolen, or damaged.

The first group of people are those who have studied or worked long enough in South Africa to apply for permanent residency.

That entitles them to live and work in South Africa indefinitely, own and operate businesses and property, and study, among other rights afforded to citizens.

To exercise some of these rights, permanent residents must be able to present an ID book.

The ID book includes the person’s status as a permanent resident.

The only right permanent residents don’t have is to vote in elections.

After five years of permanent residency, that right can be granted after an application for naturalisation. If successful, they gain full citizenship.

Naturalised citizens have only been allowed to apply for a smart ID since December 2023, provided they apply for and are granted a special invitation from the Home Affairs director-general.

The department had only issued 280 smart IDs to naturalised citizens by September 2024, with roughly another 700 in process at the time.

Complaints by the dozens

Permanent residents and those who are considered South African through descent — such as people born to South African parents while outside the country — can only get a green ID book.

The DHA has maintained that the lack of support for permanent residents was due to security concerns.

Sceptics have argued this makes no sense as permanent residents can obtain a green ID book, which affords them the same rights as a Smart ID card would.

A quick search on X (formerly Twitter) revealed that many permanent residents have been complaining that they still cannot apply for the document.

Some of these individuals said they had been permanent South African residents for decades, going back to the 1970s and 1980s.

Several MyBroadband forum members and readers have also bemoaned the issue.

In some cases, institutions like banks no longer accept their green ID books for verification as they were too damaged or a photo was too old for the holder to be recognisable.

Exposed to fraud

The government has sent out multiple warnings about the green ID book being susceptible to criminal exploitation in the past year.

It has also issued vague warnings about the document potentially being phased out and invalidated, sparking panic among the South African public.

However, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has stated that allowing naturalised citizens to apply for their smart IDs through regular channels is the next step towards ultimately phasing out green ID books.

Smile ID’s 2024 Digital Identity Fraud report found that the book was the most targeted for fraudsters in Africa.

The firm found that the document was used in 34% of cases where its Know-Your-Customer checks flagged fraud incidents.

However, permanent residents are unable to ditch their green ID book and take up the security-enhanced smart ID, while naturalised citizens are at the mercy of the director-general’s invitations to make the jump.