ABSA, Discovery join Home Affairs ID and passport partnership expansion

CapeTalk’s John Maytham speaks with Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.

Listen below:

Home Affairs has partnered with Capitec, FNB, and Standard Bank to expand their Smart ID and passport services.

Currently the service is available at 30 branches, but the plan is to expand it to hundreds – including those in rural areas.

Schreiber says we can expect 840 new branches offering this service within the next 12 months.

“That is going to entail over 300% expansion in reach.”

- Leon Schreiber, Home Affairs Minister

He adds that Discovery Bank and Absa have also signed on to join this partnership.

“I anticipate that this will become a very ubiquitous thing very quickly.”

- Leon Schreiber, Home Affairs Minister

The banks are able to do this thanks to an upgraded Online Verification System (OVS), which reduces error rates and enables rapid biometric verification.

Expanding this partnership will not only save time but can help reduce corruption, fraud, and administrative backlogs.

Schreiber says South Africans will not need an account with these specific banks to access these services.

It also improves access for citizens in low-income areas.

Schreiber says this service will also soon be available via banking apps, and the IDs or passports will be delivered to your homes.

RELATED: Home Affairs launches major push to replace remaining 18 million green ID books

Scroll up to the audio player for more.