• South Africa is set to soon start phasing out the classic green ID book in favour of the smart ID cards.
• A 2024 report shows that the green ID book is the identity document most targeted by fraudsters in the whole of Africa.
• Biometrics may be the key to lessening the prevalence of identity document fraud in Africa.

With the Department of Home Affairs recently announced plans to start phasing out the classic green South African ID book in favour of the ID cards introduced 10 years ago, concerns are now arising that simply not enough citizens have made the switch.

In fact, Home Affairs was initially planning to start phasing out the green ID book by 2018, but adoption of the new card was simply too slow.

It is estimated that only around 13 million smart ID cards have been issued, but the government may have good reason to want to rush the phasing out of the documents especially with South Africa’s ongoing immigration fraud problems.

According to a 2024 Digital Fraud in Africa report by Smile ID (PDF), the National ID card is Africa’s most attacked document when it comes to fraud. Across the continent ID card fraud is sitting at 80 percent of all identity fraud incidents, hugely overshadowing identity fraud of passports (6.6 percent) and drivers licenses (1.2 percent.)

However, in contrast, the most attacked ID document in Africa is the green ID book of South Africa with an attempted fraud rate of 34 percent, closely followed by the National ID card of Tanzania at 32 percent.

“Many African countries have either recently implemented new national IDs or plan to in the coming years. Logistical issues around properly discarding the older IDs can lead to them falling into the wrong hands. An excellent example is South Africa, where the older Green ID card saw significant fraud targeting,” the report reads.

South Africa’s smart ID card does not feature in the list of documents, which may be due to the card’s low adoption rate or that it is easier to fake an ID book rather than the card. However, South African driver’s licenses are often faked at an attempted fraud rate of 14 percent.

Another interesting factoid is that due to the size of South Africa’s economy compared to other countries in Southern Africa, including Botswana, South Africa’s identity fraud sits at 85 percent of the total fraud recorded in the region by SmileID.

“South Africa’s developed digital ecosystem poses multiple opportunities for fraudsters to exploit,” it reads. Smile ID believes the best way to combat identity fraud is through biometrics, a technology that is available in South Africa and often used by the banking sector.

“In the battle against fraud (identity or financial), biometrics is a non-negotiable tool, much more so in Africa, where the foundations of digital identity are still taking root. This evolving dynamic presents a unique opportunity for companies operating in the continent,” the report explains.

“Businesses that adopt biometric verification systems are complying with emerging regulations and positioning themselves as trustworthy and forward-thinking entities,” it adds.

[Image – Photo by Mpho Mojapelo on Unsplash]