The Department of Home Affairs said on Wednesday that South Africans can now apply for a smart ID at 753 bank branches. This puts the service past its target of 750 branches.
The department said it reached the goal “more than four months ahead of schedule”. It measured this against a deadline of the end of March 2027.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber had given an earlier date in public. In May, he told Parliament the service would reach at least 750 bank branches by the end of 2026. He repeated that date in June. Measured against his promise, the department is about seven weeks early, TechCentral reported.
The bank partnership started on 9 March with nine branches. At that time the department said 17 branches would be live by the end of that week. It also said it aimed for 1 000 branches by 2029.
The rollout grew steadily during the year. TechCentral reported 167 branches in May and 515 branches in October.
According to the department, only 214 Home Affairs offices could handle smart ID applications when the current administration took office. With the bank branches added, the total now stands at 967 sites. The department said this is an increase of more than 350%.
The department said more than a million South Africans have already used the bank channel. In June, it had put the earlier footprint at 248 offices and 32 bank branches.
Citizens can “simply walk into” a participating Absa, Capitec, FNB or Standard Bank branch without booking, the department said. It said an application can take as little as five minutes.
The news came a day after Home Affairs opened the first phase of a digital asylum system. The online portal went live on Tuesday.
For now the portal only records a person’s intention to apply for asylum. It is open only to a first group of test cases. Public intake will start after the next software release, the department said.
This is less than the government promised. In October, the inter-ministerial committee on migration said a registration system would be ready by 10 November. That plan included bookings at refugee reception offices. Home Affairs now says appointment bookings will come in a later phase.
The promise followed a Constitutional Court ruling on 7 July. The court struck down parts of the Refugees Act that blocked asylum seekers on procedural grounds. Large crowds then gathered at refugee reception offices after a 28 September intake directive. Director-General Livhuwani Makhode later withdrew that directive.
The department said registering on the portal gives no legal status. It said it does not “provide blanket protection against immigration enforcement”. According to the department, 95% of asylum applicants are usually rejected.
Later phases will add machine learning and AI tools, the department said. These are meant to clear an appeals backlog that goes back decades.
“Over the next few months, we will roll out subsequent phases of this project until the time required to adjudicate an asylum application and appeal is dramatically reduced, ensuring protection for the small minority of applicants in genuine need, and swift deportation for all failed asylum seekers,” Schreiber said.
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.