The Department of Home Affairs has reached the latest extraordinary milestone on its Home Affairs @ home digital reform journey. Just over seven months since the Department launched its new digital partnership model with the banking sector, more than one million South Africans have already used this new decentralised service channel to obtain a Smart ID card. 

The first bank branch where citizens can walk in without any prior bookings, paperwork or queues to apply for a replacement Smart ID card went live on 9 March 2026. Today, the service is live at 669 bank branches across the length and breadth of South Africa, and has already served 1 002 773 citizens. Given that the Government of National Unity inherited only 214 permanent Home Affairs offices where South Africans could obtain Smart IDs, the current total of 873 service points nationwide represents an increase in access and inclusion of 308%. 

But the progress is not only quantitative; it is also qualitative. At these 669 bank branches, the application process is entirely digitalised and secured through biometric technology, from start to finish. An average application takes just five minutes to complete, with no scope for human discretion, paperwork or manual procedures that previously left space for corruption and manipulation. 

In addition to the Smart ID replacement service that has already served over one million citizens, the Department will shortly also roll out Passport, first-time Smart ID, and home delivery services through all of these bank branches, setting a new standard for the security and efficiency with which the people of South Africa can obtain critical enabling documents from their government.

This latest milestone also marks an important step forward for the Department’s campaign to replace the 14.7 million fraud-prone Green ID Books that are still in circulation. As recently announced by the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, the Department will cease production of the Green ID Book on 31 March 2027 and withdraw its recognition as a valid form of identification by 31 March 2028.

Minister Schreiber said: "We are deeply inspired by the scale at which the public has embraced our Home Affairs @ home reforms, and by the difference that this programme has already made to the lives of over one million South Africans in just seven months. This milestone serves as unequivocal proof that our focus on the wholesale digital transformation of all departmental processes is rapidly addressing long-standing challenges. Through this reform programme, we are transforming security, eliminating queues and paperwork, combatting identity theft, and redefining the efficiency of public service delivery – all at once.

And there is so much more still to come. Within a matter of months, five-minute digital applications for all Smart ID and Passport services, as well as the option to have these enabling documents delivered to your doorstep, will be available at over one thousand bank branches through the country. This will be complemented by our recently unveiled Digital ID system, ensuring that the days of standing in endless queues to obtain an ID or Passport will soon be a thing of the past.”

South Africans are encouraged to make the switch to the Smart ID Card today, by finding their nearest participating bank branch at myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za.

Media Enquiries:

Carli van Wyk – Spokesperson to the Minister, Cell: 079 166 3899

ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS