Home Affairs partners with 2 banks for dept's new digital model to expand access to ID, passport services
This is in fulfilment of the target set by Cabinet for Home Affairs to expand its services to 1,000 bank branches by 2029.
South African passports. Picture: Zunaid Ismael/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - The Department of Home Affairs has partnered with two national banks as the first to sign up to the department’s new digital model that will expand access to smart ID and passport services.
This is in fulfilment of the target set by Cabinet for Home Affairs to expand its services to 1,000 bank branches by 2029.
According to the department, the collaboration dates back more than a decade and has to date seen the successful delivery of smart ID and passport services at only 30 branches across five different banks.
The director-general of the department, Mr Tommy Makhode, wrote to the CEO's of Absa, African Bank, TymeBank, Capitec Bank, Discovery Bank, First National Bank, Investec Bank, Nedbank, and Standard Bank, inviting them to join this digital-first new phase.
The department said that while the collaboration had seen some success, the original model failed to take advantage of technology to expand services into all rural and urban areas where bank branches already exist, as well as onto secure banking apps.
With Capitec and FNB as the first banks to respond positively to the invitation, Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber will visit both banks this week to provide further information on how this reform will benefit all South Africans.
It marks the beginning of the end for long travelling distances to reach home affairs services, for long queues, as well as for the green ID book, with its vulnerability to fraud and identity theft, and the next step in the new digital era.