Home Affairs head explains smart card issues

AFTER appealing to the public to pass on the message of the need to apply urgently for new smart ID cards, Home Affairs is now dealing with those who have responded but were turned away.

‘I wish to clarify certain issues because a member of the public, who happens to be a citizen of this country but who was born outside the country visited our Richards Bay office and demanded to apply for the smart ID card,’ said Sikhosiphi Dlamini, District Manager: King Cetshwayo DM.

‘I spoke to him over the telephone and he raised a number of issues, to which I respond.

‘For now, we are taking applications from citizens of the country who were born in the Republic of South Africa.

‘This information has been in the public domain and nothing has changed.

‘Once the system has been upgraded to accept applications from citizens born outside the Republic, the public will be informed accordingly.

‘The unhappy client also raised the issue that South Africans will not afford the amount of R140 required to apply for smart ID cards and now I want to deal with that issue:

‘Two of the most vulnerable groups, ie the youth (who have never been issued with an identity document in whatever form), and the pensioners are exempted from paying.

‘Certainly we accept that the unemployed, the disabled, etc may prefer to have been exempted from paying but unfortunately, our concession did not go that far.

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Costs absorbed

‘Secondly, all applicants are exempted from paying for photographs, which we now take ourselves at no extra cost to the clients.

‘Thirdly, the cost of the smart ID cards is only a fraction of the production cost of the card; most of the cost is absorbed by the government.

‘Fourthly, the longevity of the smart ID card is far better than that of the green bar-coded identity document and the amount of R140 for a re-issue of an identity document has always been there, it is nothing new. In fact, it has not been increased for a number of years, despite everything else having gone up.

‘Fifthly, the smart ID card has high-tech security features which do not exist in the green bar-coded identity document. This addresses the issue of the safety of the identity of the country’s citizens and our county’s national security.

‘Finally, our message remains: all law abiding citizens of the RSA who were born in the country are urged to approach the Richards Bay, Empangeni and eShowe offices of Home Affairs and apply for the smart ID cards for the sake of their identity protection and to contribute to the country’s national security.’

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