South Africa: Work Continues to Replace Green Barcoded IDs

15 June 2026
SAnews.gov.za (Tshwane)

The Department of Home Affairs is continuing work to replace the green barcoded ID books with secure smart IDs.

Responding to questions at an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration media briefing on Sunday, Home Affairs Minister, Dr Leon Schreiber, said the green ID is the most defrauded piece of identity document in South Africa.

"There are studies that it is the most defrauded identity document on the African continent and it is easy to understand why, it has got a physical photograph that can be manipulated or exchanged or swapped. If you lose your green ID, or someone steals it, it can easily be manipulated by putting another photo in there," Schreiber said.

The Minster added that artificial intelligence can also be used to manipulate documents with criminal syndicates and illegal foreign nationals having the ability to manipulate IDs.

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He added that there are about 16 million green ID books that are still in use.

"Our job is to replace those with secure smart IDs," he said.

Schreiber said that through the digital partnership with the banking sector, people are able to walk into bank branches and apply to switch from the green ID to a smart ID.

"We are moving very rapidly to expand this. We want to get to 750 bank branches by the end of this year. we are live now in more than 178 branches throughout the country [and] many of them are in rural areas where previously people did not have access to the services," he said.

Last week it was announced that government will establish an Intelligent Population Register containing biometric data for every person in South Africa and introduce new regulations to prevent the misuse of Traffic Registration Numbers (TRNs).

This is part of a broader effort to strengthen migration management while upholding constitutional values and human dignity.

As part of the process, government will progressively phase out the green barcoded identity book, which President Cyril Ramaphosa said has been exploited by undocumented immigrants and criminal syndicates to facilitate identity theft.

Read the original article on SAnews.gov.za.

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