South Africans now have two and a half times as many places to apply for a Smart ID Card as they did just four and a half months ago, after the Department of Home Affairs expanded its Digital Partnership with Absa today.

This includes the launch of South Africa’s first bank-based Home Affairs mobile unit.

The department announced on July 22 that Absa has become the fourth banking partner in its Digital Partnership and, with the launch, introduced South Africa’s first bank-based Home Affairs mobile unit.

The department explained that the mobile unit will take secure Smart ID services directly to remote, peri-urban and previously underserved communities, extending the reach of the Department’s digital reforms beyond traditional Home Affairs offices. Speaking at the launch in Tembisa, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, said:

“For far too long, accessing Home Affairs meant taking a taxi or a bus, missing a day of work, standing in long queues, and spending hours simply to apply for an identity document.

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“Our Home Affairs @ home reform programme is changing that forever by bringing Home Affairs to where people live, work and bank.”

The department shared that the launch builds on the rapid expansion of the Digital Partnership since its March 9 launch. In just four and a half months, the Department has expanded to 327 participating bank branches.

The department indicated that, together with its 214 modernised Home Affairs offices, South Africans can now access Smart ID services at 541 locations, up from just 214 before the partnership began.

The department noted that it is the fastest expansion of access to Home Affairs services since the dawn of democracy, with the Digital Partnership already adding more Smart ID service points than the entire modernised Home Affairs network that existed when the reform programme began.

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The department expressed that by the end of the year, the Digital Partnership is expected to expand to approximately 750 participating bank branches.

“Together with the Department’s own offices, this will give South Africans access to around 1 000 locations where they can apply for a Smart ID Card – nearly five times the number of access points that existed just two years ago,” said Home Affairs.

The department said that the Digital Partnership will also continue to expand before the end of the year to include adult and minor passports, first-time Smart ID Card applications and, in the next major milestone, home delivery of identity documents directly to citizens’ homes.

“Through Home Affairs @ home, we are making it easier than ever before for South Africans to replace the fraud-prone green barcoded ID book with the secure Smart ID Card.

“Together, we are closing the chapter on the fraud-prone green barcoded ID book and opening a new chapter of secure, digitalised identity services that deliver dignity for all,” said Schreiber.