Unregistered SIM cards fuel more than 60% of extortion cases

Unregistered SIM cards fuel 66% of extortion cases investigated by the police in South Africa.

Police minister Senzo Mchunu disclosed this alarming statistic in a written reply to a question DA MP Kabelo Kgobisa Ngcaba posed to him in Parliament.

Ngcaba posed the question in her previous role as a member of the portfolio committee on justice & constitutional development.

The Rica Act was established to ensure that all SIM cards are registered to their users, making it easier for law enforcement to trace criminal activity and protect citizens.

‘Overwhelmed’ police can’t enforce Rica

Ngcaba told The Citizen that the ideal solution to the scourge of unregistered SIM cards would be for police to properly enforce Rica.

“We know that with murders happening, extortion happening, the police are overwhelmed. They don’t have the resources to go from spaza shop to spaza shop, shutting down everyone who sells unregistered SIM cards.

“My thinking is in order not to tax police resources and to help them with effective enforcement, we need to look at possible legislative and regulatory solutions,” Ngcaba said.

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SIM card packaging

Ngcaba added that SIM card packaging has deteriorated.

“These shops can open a SIM card register and put it back with no drama. We need to bring back secure, tamper-proof packaging just to simply introduce hurdles and make it harder to pre-register the SIM cards.

“We really need to relook at the [Rica] Act and see if it’s still working 20 years later. Now, the department previously indicated that they are doing a review. Well, when is it coming out? We need action now, especially with extortion on the rise, murder on the rise, and kidnapping on the rise,” she said.

Concerns over lack of enforcement

Manufacturing company Securi-Tech said it is concerned over the lack of enforcement of the Rica.

“It appears that the implementation of this law is failing, with up to 60 million prepaid SIM cards being incorrectly registered each year. This raises further concerns about the broader implications of non-compliance with Rica.”

Securi-Tech said it will be formally writing to the chairperson of parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice, Xola Nqola, to request an examination of Rica’s enforcement and the loopholes allowing SIM cards to remain unregistered.  

It also proposed the introduction of tamper-proof SIM card packaging to prevent mass registration by third-party providers, a practice that currently undermines Rica’s effectiveness.

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Biometrics

It said many countries, including Nigeria, the UAE, the Philippines, Sweden and India, have implemented stricter measures to ensure proper SIM card registration.

“Some countries use biometric verification, which links SIM cards directly to a user’s physical identity, thereby reducing anonymity for criminals and improving law enforcement capabilities.”

Securi-Tech said the growing role of mobile phones in banking, cross-money transfers, and financial services further highlights the need for robust identity verification processes to prevent the use of phones in money laundering or illicit financial flows.

Fraudsters

Fraudsters are more able to exploit gaps in SIM card registration to commit financial crimes, reinforcing the urgent need for stricter enforcement of existing regulations, it said.

In January, 29 people were arrested for illegally registering SIM cards in Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

Law enforcement also confiscated equipment, including computers and registration machines, and thousands of SIM cards.

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