Smart Card ID in two years

2008-02-13 15:54

Cape Town - Home Affairs expects to introduce the proposed new "smart card" identity document to the general public within two years, it said on Wednesday.

The card would replace the old ID document which was prone to fraud and would be much more difficult to forge.

Home Affairs Director General Mavuso Msimang told a media briefing at Parliament that the department was currently reviewing the replies from potential service providers to its request for information in this regard that went out in October last year.

A request for proposals to manufacture such a card would then follow.

"And I would hope that in the next two years, we should have something out," he said.

A pilot project would first be launched within key departments and institutions, which should be completed in 2009 - and rollouts to the public would begin the following year.

Immediate verification

However, the project could well take less time, Msimang said.

Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said the department would also launch the Online Verification Project this year.

The project was part of the Home Affairs National Identification System (Hanis).

With the system, citizens' fingerprints could be immediately verified at Home Affairs offices when they applied for documents.

This would also reduce ID fraud and improve turnaround time for processing documents, such as IDs and passports.

A printing machine for the new passports would be delivered soon, which would also improve security and integrity of passports, as well as turnaround times, she said.

Msimang agreed the new measures would go a long way in preventing fraudulent documents.

"Yes, I believe there will be a huge improvement with the new passport system and with the new ID system."

However, South Africa was not the only country affected by syndicates perpetrating passport fraud.

Massive forgeries

"There is no country that is immune to these kind of syndicates. They're global in nature, transnational in their operation, they hit us all.

"The British had a really bad one some two years ago, with massive forgeries of their passports."

Asked about reports the British government was considering stripping South Africa of its "visa-free" status, he said his department had had no official engagement with the British on the matter.

- SAPA