The department of home affairs plans to expand its partnership with South Africa’s banks for the processing of smart ID cards and passports.
In a statement on Monday, home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said Capitec Bank and First National Bank have signed up as the first financial institutions who will participate in the department’s new “digital partnership model” that will expand the smart ID and passport service from 30 bank branches to hundreds around the country, both urban and rural.
Home affairs director-general Tommy Makhode in April wrote to the CEOs of the major banks, inviting their institutions to participate in the expanded programme.
“This collaboration dates back more than a decade and has, until now, seen the successful delivery of smart ID and passport services at only 30 branches across five different banks,” home affairs said.
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“However, that original model relied on the costly duplication of home affairs staff and hardware inside bank branches and failed to take advantage of technology to dramatically expand services into all rural and urban areas where bank branches already exist, as well as onto secure banking apps that have come to be widely used across society.” — © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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