Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says government is laying the foundation for an ambitious plan to create South Africa’s first ever Digital ID system.
“Home Affairs will shortly submit a Digital ID policy to Cabinet for approval to conduct public hearings. Beyond the material benefits, such as clamping down on fraud and enhancing inclusion, the Digital ID system will also restore the integrity and pride of our cherished South African identity,” said the Minister.
He was delivering the department’s Budget Vote in Parliament on Tuesday.
Schreiber said the department plans to deliver digital versions of enabling documents that can be accessed online and on smart devices.
“[The] Digital ID will also enable users to remotely authenticate themselves, laying the foundation for a digital revolution not only for government services, but also for critical private sector services like banking, finance and insurance.”
The Minister said government was committed to the digital transformation of the department – called Home Affairs @ home.
“We call this vision Home Affairs @ home… Our goal is nothing less than revolutionising the way citizens interact with their government by moving from manual to digital,” said the Minister.
He said building a new reform model – based on decentralisation, modernisation, digital transformation and remote access – will “restore the hope that South Africa as a whole can work”.
The constant investments being made in the reform of Home Affairs, the Border Management Authority and Government Printing Works, is starting to compound and grow.
“During the past year, we have delivered nearly 3.6 million Smart IDs – almost half a million more than the previous annual record. We cleared a visa backlog of over 306 000 applications dating back over a decade.
“We deported over 46 000 illegal immigrants, the highest number in five years and more than countries like France and Germany combined. We used drones and body cameras to increase the number of attempted illegal crossings that were detected and prevented by up to 215%.
“We empowered naturalised citizens and permanent residents to obtain Smart IDs for the first time, expanding inclusion and making our country less reliant on the green ID book that is 500% more vulnerable to fraud than the Smart ID.
“If this is just some of what Home Affairs could do in one year. Just imagine what we can do in five,” said Schreiber.
Now that the department is enabling all qualifying categories of persons to obtain Smart IDs, “the next step will be to dramatically scale up access to this critical and more-secure enabling document”.
In line with the Medium-Term Development Plan adopted by Cabinet, the department will do so by expanding the successful pilot project that currently delivers Smart ID and passport services in about 30 bank branches across the country.
“We will use digital transformation to integrate the Home Affairs IT platform onto banks’ networks, thereby enabling many more bank branches to deliver this service around the country.
“Our target for this financial year is to expand this service to at least 100 more branches.”
This same technology reform will enable South Africans to order Smart IDs and passports through their banking app, just like they already when buying electricity or data.
The department will further introduce the option of home delivery for Smart IDs and passports, using advanced facial recognition technology to secure the process.
“Through scaling up the existing collaboration with banks, we will rapidly accelerate access to Smart IDs with the goal of ending the production of new Green ID books by the end of this year.
“This will be a momentous step towards delivering dignity for all, while simultaneously clamping down on fraud,” said the Minister.
He announced that, by the end of this month, Home Affairs will launch new facilities abroad to assist South Africans living and working overseas. These new facilities will ensure a five-week turnaround time for IDs and passports.
“We are starting in Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates, followed by France, Germany and The Netherlands later this year, and North America in the new year.”
He said the ultimate aim is to deliver “Home Affairs @ home”, which will enable every South African, no matter where they are in the world, to obtain services from their government online. – SAnews.gov.za
