When the Department of Home Affairs decided to replace South Africa’s aging identity book with a smart ID twelve years ago, it selected Dutch security company Gemalto to supply the card. Gemalto was a well-regarded firm that supplied SIM cards to mobile network operators, and EMV (chip and PIN) payment cards to banks and other issuers worldwide. French multinational Thales Group put in a €4.8 billion (R93.4 billion) bid for Gemalto in December 2017, and the acquisition was completed in April 2019.

In a white paper documenting the rollout of South Africa’s electronic ID (eID) as a case study, Thales states that Gemalto’s card technology was selected because of the company’s track record. “Thales was chosen to provide its Gemalto eID cards, based on its secure embedded software technology, contactless expertise and ability to deliver durable polycarbonate eID documents within an ambitious schedule,” it said. Another factor was that Gemalto had a long-established presence in Johannesburg.

It explained that the card has several advanced features, including securely storing the individual’s photo and biometric data. Gemalto’s BioPIN “Match on Card” feature allows fingerprints to be checked locally using the microprocessor of the eID card. “It ensures the citizen’s information never leaves the card and does not require any connection to a central database,” said Thales. Interestingly, Thales noted that in addition to reducing identity theft and fraud, the eID would eliminate the need to carry multiple ID documents.

This suggests that the initial plan was to eventually discontinue South Africa’s separate driving licence card, or at least allow motorists to present their eID during a traffic stop. Unfortunately, this feature of the smart ID card is not being used. Instead, the Department of Transport wants to continue supplying its own card. It has selected another French company, Idemia, to roll out a new and more secure driving licence card. However, the tender award is currently under investigation following allegations that there were irregularities in the department’s process.

South Africa’s old green ID book
Thales also said that more than R348 million was allocated for technology modernization as part of the eID rollout in 2013 and that the Government Printing Works expected to deliver around 3 million smart ID cards per year.

This also did not happen.

When former home affairs minister Naledi Pandor first launched South Africa’s smart ID card project in 2013, the plan was to phase out the ID book and declare it invalid by 2021.

In a June 2013 notice published in the Government Gazette, Pandor said she would set a date by 2016 for fully phasing out old ID documents. Her exact wording was “at least within three years from the effective date of this notice, or soon thereafter”. Pandor’s original notice also stipulated that the smart ID rollout would follow a phased approach, starting with the elderly and first-time applicants who have just turned 16.

The plan was then to invite people to apply in stages according to their dates of birth. However, the smart ID system was only opened to the broader public in 2016. By then, former president Jacob Zuma had moved Pandor to the Science and Technology portfolio. Malusi Gigaba took over as Minister of Home Affairs in May 2014, where he served until March 2017. By March 2015, fewer than two million smart ID cards had been issued. Former Department of Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni heralded this as a success.

“We are really moving, considering this process only started in 2013,” Apleni said.

However, for Home Affairs to replace the 38 million ID books it said were in circulation in 2013, it would’ve had to produce 4.75 million smart ID cards per year over eight years. It has fallen far short of this number, with Home Affairs reporting that it had produced 2,613,248 smart ID cards in the 2022/23 financial year, and 2,822,236 in the 2023/24 financial year. Home Affairs plans to produce a further 2.5 million cards in 2024/25.

Njabulo Nzuza, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs
Nzuza said during his budget vote speech this year that roughly 26 million South Africans hold smart ID cards. He reiterated that the plan was to phase out green ID books when the number of smart ID cards reached 38 million. Even ignoring that this doesn’t account for the new green ID books issued over the past 11 years, it would take another four years at 3 million smart IDs per year to get to this number. Pandor’s 2013 notice also declared that all South African citizens and permanent residents would be required to apply for new identity cards from 18 July 2013.

However, permanent residents have never been able to apply for smart ID cards — a major problem that must be resolved before the old green ID books can be declared invalid. Naturalised citizens faced a similar problem, although they may now seek an invitation to apply from the Home Affairs director-general. Current home affairs minister Leon Schreiber has said that permanent residents would be allowed to apply for smart ID cards once his department has proven the system’s stability and capability to verify such applications. At the beginning of 2025, Schreiber said his department would work flat-out this year to ensure that all South Africans can obtain smart IDs.