The first Smart ID Cards will be issued to President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, former Presidents Thabo Mbeki and FW de Klerk, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and Ahmed Kathrada, among others.
Pandor said that on Women’s Day (9 August), the department will commission four machines that will produce the Smart ID Cards and will name them Helen Joseph, Lillian Ngoyi, Sophie de Bruyn and Rahima Moosa, “in honour of the brave and selfless women who led the Women’s March on the Union Buildings on August 9 in 1957”.
She said delivery to the broader public will be announced soon.
“We will start with young South Africans as first-time applicants for identity documents, as well as senior citizens”.
She added that in order to avoid a rush, applicants will be invited to the offices in stages, according to their dates of birth.
Pandor appealed to citizens to be patient, as the process will take between six and eight years before all South Africans have Smart ID Cards.
According to the Minister, her department was in the process of preparing 27 regional offices which will be the first to issue the new cards. She said more would be announced in due course.
The card body is secure and durable, made of quality polycarbonate materials which will prevent tampering and forgery.
Security features include:
– Holographic personal details allowing visual verification of the card and easy identification of tampered cards,
– Fingerprint biometrics and biographic data which is embedded on the 80 kilobytes card chip, and
– Laser engraving of demographic details and photographs.
