DIGITAL IDS AND PASSPORTS FOR SA

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) recently announced its plan to introduce digital IDs and passports in South Africa.

During its presentation in Parliament, the DHA said it's currently working closely with the South African Reserve Bank to develop the digital identity system.

“The digital identity initiative will streamline immigration processes and ensure that services are more efficient and secure. This system will use facial recognition as the primary biometric modality and fingerprints as the secondary, significantly enhancing national security and reducing the risk of fraud.”

South Africans will be able to store their IDs and passports on their phone’s digital wallets, making access to them easy. The system will be developed to support more than 15 documents on the digital wallet.

If everything goes to plan, the DHA aims to have the digital identity system online by the 2028/2029 financial year.

The DHA made it clear that the digital system can only be implemented once all outdated green-barcoded ID books are eliminated and replaced with the smart ID cards.

To ensure this happens smoothly and within the planned timeframe, the DHA will partner with more banks to enable more branches to issue the smart ID cards.

Image credit: Uqudo