In a media release by the Department of Home Affairs released last Tuesday, the minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba said “as of April, eligible citizens will be able to apply for their smart ID cards at the Home Affairs kiosks in their nearest bank.
To date two banks, First National Bank and Standard Bank, have signed a memorandum of understanding with the department for the “pilot project”.
He said Nedbank has indicated its willingness to sign and he hopes Absa will soon join the partnership.
The South African Post Office had also been approached with the aim of reaching an agreement on how some of its infrastructure could be used.
Those eligible to apply are 16 years and older.
“Several new innovations are going to be introduced by the department in the course of this and the next financial years to assist South Africans in applying for their new ID cards and passports in a an extremely convenient way.
“That is why the president announced that we will soon be able to apply for our ID cards at our bank,” he said.
The process will be to go to the Home Affairs kiosk in the bank, submit the application, take biometric photographs, automated fingerprints and the applicants electronic signature, which will be compiled into an electronic package and deposited to Home Affairs.
The minister said this project will help to ease the queues at the Home Affairs offices nationwide.
According to the minister government have a massive task to ensure that over 38-million citizens with green coded ID books are converted to smart ID cards.
To date they have issued over one million smart ID cards in less than a year.
“We are confident of reaching the target of 1.6-m cards by the end of the 2014/2015 financial year,” he said.
