The Department of Home Affairs says it is accelerating the rollout of smart ID cards amid ongoing efforts to retire the green ID books, reports the Zululand Observer.

This as more than four million smart cards were issued last year, the ‘highest rate of delivery in the history of the department’.

“This milestone represents a 17% increase on the 3 427 468 smart IDs issued during 2024, which was itself a new record at the time. The 2025 performance is about 1.3 million more than the number of smart IDs issued during the 2023 and 2022 calendar years respectively,” said Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber.

Dr Schreiber re-emphasised that the green bar-coded ID book, which the smart ID is intended to replace, has become a soft target for fraudsters and is estimated to be 500% more vulnerable to fraud than the smart ID.

“The milestone of delivering over four million smart IDs in a calendar year for the first time demonstrates how our commitment to digital transformation is expanding inclusion and access at a scale never seen before,” he said.

“Smart IDs are vastly more secure than the fraud-prone green barcoded ID book,” added Schreiber.

“Thanks to the ongoing digital transformation of Home Affairs, over four million more people gained the ability to securely open a bank account, access employment, and obtain social grants in 2025,” he said.

The department said it is in the final phase of preparatory work for the rollout of its new digital partnership with the banking sector, to ensure more citizens have access to smart IDs at hundreds more bank branches.

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