Home affairs Minister Leon Schreiber says that he aims to dramatically expand his department’s partnership with South African banks this year and increase the number of branches offering smart IDs and passports.
Speaking with Izak du Plessis on Nuuspod, Schreiber said that for almost a decade the partnership has been limited to around 30 bank branches around the country.
“This must become hundreds if not thousands of bank branches. I want every village, town, city, and suburb in South Africa to have access to Home Affairs services in a local bank branch,” said Schreiber.
“I believe this will reduce the pressure on our offices and alleviate the long queues. Not to mention greatly expanding our footprint.”
Schreiber said another goal for 2025 is for documents to introduce a delivery option for documents.
“It is already accepted practice that if you order a new bank card, it gets delivered to your home or office for a fee,” he said.
In addition to making Home Affairs’ services more convenient to access, Schreiber said he wanted to use technology to further combat fraud and identity theft.
Schreiber said any process that allows or requires human intervention opens the door for fraud.
“It is only possible for someone to steal an ID number or engage in fraudulent activity like swopping out photos because the system has gaps that allow for human intervention,” he previously told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs.
“Until such time as Home Affairs has been transformed into a digital-first department, these abuses will keep happening.”
“Instances like these — and potentially much worse — will keep happening for as long as Home Affairs processes are manual, paper-based, and vulnerable to human discretion,” he added.
He also said that digitally transforming Home Affairs has been accompanied by cracking down on individuals perpetrating fraud in the department.
Schreiber said there had been dozens of disciplinary cases and arrests in the past year, ensuring that people there are consequences for defrauding the system.
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Updated: 14:02 30 January 2025 Thursday
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