South Africans with green ID books were told their identity documents would become valid by December 2025.
Several publications quoted Home Affairs’ Deputy Minister, Njabulo Nzuza, as saying, “Very soon before the end of the year, we anticipate that we will have stopped issuing out green barcoded IDs.”
However, according to the department, the minister was misquoted.
The Minister of the Department of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, took to social media to clarify the report.
He shared a link from a report by the SABC that quoted Nzuza.
“This article has been updated after the Deputy Minister was misquoted in the original,” he wrote on X.
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The minister said the phasing out will happen after Home Affairs has increased the number of places where South Africans can obtain Smart IDs.
“Home Affairs will work flat-out this year to ensure that all South Africans are able to obtain Smart IDs as part of our vision to deliver 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘈𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 @ 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, including by expanding our existing cooperation with banks, introducing home deliveries, making Smart ID available to all citizens, and launching new online channels as part of our vision for digital transformation,” he wrote.
“But it is only after this has been achieved, that we will make an official announcement on the phasing out of the green ID book. In the meantime, if you are able to, please do get a Smart ID to protect yourself from the vulnerabilities of the green ID book,” he added.
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