SA First Forum Gives Home Affairs 14 Days To Account For Undocumented South Africans
The SA First Forum has given the Department of Home Affairs 14 days to account for millions of South Africans who remain without identity documents.
In a letter to the department, the forum, the legal arm of March and March, launched in August by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma 1says about 4.4 million citizens remain undocumented.
The forum is demanding the current number of undocumented citizens, reasons why they remain without IDs, a plan to document them within 90 days, and a breakdown of spending on the asylum and refugee programme.
It argues that state resources are being directed towards non-citizens while South Africans remain without basic identity documents, citing the Constitution and the Identification Act.
The figure is based on a parliamentary disclosure by Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, which showed that 4,432,923 people aged 16 and older did not have a green ID book or smart ID card in November 2025.
By 12 August 2026, the number had fallen to 4,055,569.
Schreiber has not committed to clearing the backlog within 90 days. On 1 October, he said a campaign to document every undocumented citizen is planned for the 2028/29 financial year, with completion targeted for 2029.
Home Affairs had not responded to the forum’s demands at the time of publication.