South Africa’s Sluggish Push for Digital IDs and Passports
This initiative has been in action for several years in the form of a pilot project between the Department of Home Affairs and participating South African banks. It experienced great success and significant demand from banking clients, leading many to believe that the initiative had a bright future and would undoubtedly see a comprehensive, nationwide roll-out.
This pilot project was scheduled to come to an end at the start of March 2023, but the deadline was extended and is now scheduled to finish at the start of September 2023.
However, no further information has been released concerning future plans and roadmaps. Aaron Motsoaledi, the Minister for Home Affairs, had previously said he was expecting a full-scale roll out to nearly 50 additional branches upon the end of the pilot project, but no plan for this expansion has been revealed.
Although entities such as FNB, Standard Bank, Absa, and Nedbank have shown interest in broadening the reach of Home Affairs services, the ultimate success of the entire project hinges on the pilot program concluding with a favourable and concrete commitment from the DHA. Without one, the project may never be restarted.
Although the project saw high customer demand, there have been persistent difficulties in establishing additional bank branches for the distribution of smart IDs and passports. These challenges include delays in finding appropriate locations, hurdles in obtaining required authorizations, and financial limitations.
Another major hurdle has been the quality of DHA service. The home affairs branches within the participating banks continue to operate like normal DHA satellite offices, which means that they maintain the same levels of sub-par service quality that the DHA has become notorious for.
Although this project is a first for South Africa, the digitalization of personal identification has been rapidly progressing in other regions of the world. Luxembourg, Sweden, Estonia and Vietnam have already rolled out digital ID cards that have seen great success, while many other nations are also in the process of designing and implementing such systems.
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