Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber used his own smartphone on Thursday to show what he called South Africa’s first working digital ID. The live demonstration took place in Johannesburg, TechCentral reported.
Schreiber did not say when ordinary South Africans will be able to get a digital ID. The department’s annual performance plan aims to finish the hosting system by 31 March 2027. Citizens would then get credentials through a mobile wallet in the 2027/2028 financial year.
“What you are about to see is my own real digital identity credential,” Schreiber said. He said it had been formally issued through the population register and linked to the chip on his phone.
The demonstration formed part of a speech marking the halfway point of the government of national unity’s term.
Schreiber opened the MyMzansi digital ID app and confirmed his identity with his thumbprint. He said the photo on the screen was his own picture from the population register.
Director-general Tommy Makhode then acted as an official checking his citizenship. Makhode used a verifier app to ask for Schreiber’s details. Schreiber made a QR code on his phone, and Makhode scanned it.
Before he approved the request, Schreiber switched off his ID number. He shared the other fields, including his nationality, which showed on Makhode’s phone seconds later. When Makhode tried a second time, Schreiber said no and the request was blocked.
“Digital ID cannot and will not be a photograph of your ID card on your phone,” Schreiber said. He called it a remote verification tool linked to the user’s biometrics.
The app also has a wallet that will hold other home affairs documents, such as birth and marriage certificates. A sample wallet was shown on stage instead of his own, because his holds real personal details.
Schreiber said using the digital ID will be voluntary. He said the final rules will put hard limits on what people’s data may be used for. The physical smart ID card will stay available, and users will be able to see each time their data is accessed.
“Surveillance is the state watching the citizen. What we are building is the opposite: the citizen watching the state and other users of their data,” he said.
He compared it to the digital bank cards many people keep on their phones next to a physical card. He said it would be protected by the same biometrics used to unlock a phone.
According to Schreiber, people who opt in could be contacted six months before their passport expires. A renewal would already be prepared for them.
“You verify it with your face, make payment and your new passport is delivered directly to your door,” he said.
The hosting system for the digital ID is being built inside the South African Revenue Service’s IT environment. TechCentral reported that identity experts criticised the draft rules published in May, partly for relying on 2D selfies for liveness checks.
The department is still working through public comments on those draft regulations.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TechCentral. Image: TechCentral. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.