The Ministry of Home Affairs is strengthening plans to issue smart IDs to fight corruption and embezzlement of the information of those who still hold old IDs.
About 16 million people in this country still use the old green ID cards. This was expressed by the Minister of the Department, Dr. Leon Schreiber, when he presented the budget of R13.8 billion for this Department in Parliament.
He said they are increasing the number of places where people will be able to use smart IDs as they plan to end the year, and they will be used in 750 branches of banks in the country.
“It takes five minutes to enter bank IDs. At the moment, 167 banks are doing this work and we plan to increase their number before the end of this year. We want to end the corruption of stealing the information of those who are still using old IDs. Those old IDs are the most defrauded in Africa,” he said.
Mr. Njabulo Nzuza the Deputy Minister said that in the financial year 2025/2026, they made history by issuing 4 million smart IDs. He said that they have increased the number of offices where ID cards can be issued, and that there have been plans to visit rural communities to inform them about this program.
“The cooperation of different agencies has enabled us to issue so many IDs. We have visited rural communities and those living in remote areas.”
Schreiber said that they are soon planning to install a system for printing passports in banks.
“We want IDs and passports to be delivered to homes. It will be the first time in history that something like this has happened in this country. We want people to know that IDs and passports can be sent using the courier system, so they don’t even go to our offices.”
He revealed that every week they point the way or arrest corrupt employees working under the Border Management Authority (BMA).
“Since I started at the Department, 14 employees have been arrested, 65 have been dismissed, and 10 have been sentenced for various crimes against BMA employees. We do not want corrupt employees as we are in the process of repatriating foreigners who are in the country illegally. There have been 110,000 of them that we have sent back to the countries and they have decreased to 945,000 that we have successfully prevented from entering the country.”
Nzuza said they are also strengthening the registration of children within a month of their birth.
“As voting is about to take place, I urge people to collect their identity cards from our offices. It is important to do this so that they can participate in the elections,” said Nzuza.
Some members of Parliament complained that when people who are in the country illegally are returned, the focus is on black people when they are there with other races.