South Africa boosts Smart ID adoption through expanded bank network

Access to Smart ID cards in South Africa has substantially increased in the last three months following a jump in the number of bank branches offering identity services.

This is according to an X post by the Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, on Thursday. “In a little over 3 months, 200+ bank branches are now live under our new digital partnership that’s already processed 250, 000+ transactions,” he said. The official added that thanks to the innovation, citizens can now apply for their replacement Smart ID in as little as five minutes with no paperwork or prior booking.

The new partnership model mentioned by the minister was concluded with banks in March, to revise a previous one that saw only 32 bank branches offer smart ID services across the country. It also underscores the relevance of public-private sector collaboration not only in building digital public infrastructure, but also in driving its adoption cross sectors.

The government news agency reports that the expansion of the network of bank branches issuing smart cards has increased access to the IDs by up to 73 percent within the given period. The network, it indicates, includes 109 Capitec branches, 74 Standard Bank branches, while FNB has 20, to make a total of 203.

With the facilitation of access to the Smart ID, South Africa is in a good position to pursue its transition from the age-old Green ID book system which authorities say is prone to fraud and identity theft.

This move is part of broader efforts by Home Affairs to drive the country’s digital transformation agenda, now underpinned by the implementation of the MyMzansi digital public infrastructure (DPI) roadmap which seeks to revolutionize how services are offered to the public.

In February, President Ramaphosa emphasized the importance of smart IDs and pledged to get the new national digital ID system operational before the year runs out. Last month, Home Affairs announced the legal framework for the digital ID had been gazetted, and launched a call for inputs from the public which ended on June 6.

The ID access expansion efforts tie in with the sustained push by several countries to expand digital identity services across their territories in order to make DPI more useful than just being symbolic administrative projects.

Home Affairs requested a budget of about $828 million for the 2026/27 fiscal year, part of which Schreiber says will be dedicated to further expanding access to smart ID and to prepare the ground for the imminent rollout of the national digital ID.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital ID  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  South Africa