South Africa envisages fully-functional digital ID system before 2029 national elections

South Africa’s Minister of Interior, Leon Schreiber, has restated the country’s ambitious digital transformation plans, announcing that the government is considering implementing a vast digital ID system that could possibly be used for voter verification during the 2029 national and provincial elections.

Schreiber dropped the hint at a Conference and Exhibition on Electronic Voting Technologies organized by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa.

In his speech at the event, the minister painted a vivid picture of South Africa’s ongoing digital transformation journey, citing Home Affairs as one of the government departments at the forefront of the process.

He said over the past months, several efforts have been deployed to automate and digitize many processes and services in many domains at Home Affairs including border management, government and printing works.

The IEC conference was a moment of reflection by different stakeholders on ways of bringing the country’s voting system onboard the digital transformation train.

“This is important because, as much as the IEC is an independent entity, it functions within the broader Home Affairs ecosystem. Elections in South Africa are dependent upon the ability of other stakeholders in this ecosystem to issue IDs and control the population register,” Schreiber told the conference.

“So, given the scale of change we have embarked on at Home Affairs, it is important to reflect on the role of the IEC in this ecosystem, and how it can both mitigate risk but also benefit from the reforms we are undertaking,” he added.

“In the case of the IEC, this means that the ultimate goal of digital transformation should be to ensure that queues get shorter, not longer, on voting day. That citizens should have higher trust, not less trust, in the integrity of election outcomes. That security should be stronger, not weaker. And that the efficiency of any electronic system should be better, not worse, than under the existing paper-based system.”

In many parts of India, for example, citizens now no longer have to stand on a queue to collect their voter ID card as this and many other public services have been fully digitized, cutting the time needed to obtain physical services by about 40 percent, according to Indian Express.

Massive issuance of smart ID cards

According to Schreiber, some of their digital transformation activities ongoing at Home Affairs are bound to have implications for the IEC, an independent body notwithstanding.

He cited the ongoing issuance of the smart ID cards and a plan to scale the process to a level the country has never seen before. Home Affairs plans to issue 2.5 million smart ID cards this year.

“We will do so by building on the successful pilot project that has rendered ID and passport services in about 30 bank branches over the past decade. It is now time to scale this to hundreds or even a thousand bank branches, so that all South Africans can obtain Smart IDs much closer to where they live,” he said.

“Secondly, by the time of the next national and provincial elections in 2029, we want to have a fully-functional digital ID system. As announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of the Nation Address last month, Home Affairs is hard at work to develop the infrastructure required for a secure digital identity platform,” he stated, adding that this “will enable not only South Africans to securely store their IDs and other official documents on a smartphone, but will also provide a verifiable credential for each citizen and permanent resident.”

“This will enable Home Affairs to virtually certify the identity of every person in the country, based on their unique facial or fingerprint biometrics.”

New population register soon

In addition to the envisaged digital ID system, Schreiber says there are also plans to make enhancements to the national population register, with a new National Identification Registration bill currently on his table, to provide for a new and modern population register.

He said among other things, the changes seek to address the failures the country has suffered over the years in ensuring that everyone on its territory is registered in a single biometric repository.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  civil registration  |  digital ID  |  elections  |  identity management  |  South Africa  |  voter registration