Thousands of Smart ID cards need to be collected at Home Affairs
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) announced in a media statement that it is currently experiencing an overwhelming number of uncollected IDs nationally.
The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) is no exception and confirmed that approximately 19 150 smart IDs and around 1 528 green bar-coded IDs still need to be collected.
A total of 1 086 Smart ID cards and 61 green bar-coded ID books are waiting for collection at Nigel Home Affairs.
“CoE, as responsible government that promotes participatory democracy, urges residents to collect their IDs so that they can register to vote during the voter registration period on 26 and 27 January,” municipal spokesperson Themba Gadebe said.
He added that uncollected IDs are hampering the City’s service delivery programmes, in that residents are unable to register for municipal programmes such as the RDP housing beneficiaries, without a valid ID. They are also unable to receive their title deeds upon final registration.
Among the services that the residents forego due to lack of IDs are enlisting on the City’s indigent database for which they are entitled to free water, free electricity and indigent rebates to assessment rates.
To this end, CoE has entered into a partnership with DHA to fast-track collection IDs. The City is providing transport to elderly residents, people living with disability, learners and military veterans.
Non-governmental organisation, community-based organisations and churches have also been roped in to assist. The City has also used its popular community outreach programme – Siyaqhuba, to advocate for application and collection of birth certificates and IDs.
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