Government corrects claims that the Department of Home Affairs partnership with banks on Smart ID is new and driven by a Political Party

The Smart ID digitisation programme was initiated in 2015 under the then Minister of Home Affairs, Dr. Malusi Gigaba, as part of government’s broader efforts to modernise the national identification system and enhance service delivery.

⁠The partnership with the banks was started as part of the multi channel access model in order to increase the DHA footprint.

At the time of its launch, the partnership included ABSA, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank. Investec.

Discovery Bank joined in 2019 under the then Minister of Home Affairs Dr. Siyabonga Cwele.

The collaboration with banks forms part of the government’s multi-channel access model aimed at expanding the Home Affairs service footprint and making Digital  ID services more accessible to citizens across the country through the use of bank staff. The initiative with banks is regulated by MoUs signed between Department of Home Affairs and the Banks. The security guarantees are assured because the ABIS database has the the biometrics to ensure that no photo swaps can be facilitated at banks.

There were 30 bank branches that participated in this initiative before the recent joining of Capitec to the programme. These branches were spread as follows:
Gauteng(17), Western Cape(5), Eastern Cape(2), KZN(3), Mpumalanga(1) , Limpopo (1) and Northern Cape (1)

Government welcomes that Capitec has ultimately joined the initiative, under Dr. Leon Schreiber current Minister of Home Affairs, and the upgrading of technologies in banks such as Standard Bank and FNB and the progression to the stage of applications being done at the banks.

The advancement of this system will support government’s initiative to eradicate the Green-barcoded ID books and move South Africans to a more fraud-proof Digital IDs.

Media Enquiries: 
Ms Nomonde Mnukwa, Acting Government Spokesperson 
Cell: 0836537485

Mr William Baloyi, Deputy Government Spokesperson
Cell: 0833907147

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