• The Department of Home Affairs has started cancelling identity documents that appear fraudulent or that their numbers have been blocked.
• If your ID does not reflect the person it is registered to or it was stolen, it will get cancelled too.
• Home Affairs says that this is being done both to curb ID fraud and to re-open IDs incorrectly blocked in the past.

The Director-General of Home Affairs says that his department will soon begin cancelling the identity documents and Smart ID cards of persons whose identity numbers are blocked in efforts to crack down on rampant ID fraud in South Africa.

South Africa’s green ID book is the most faked identity document in the entire African continent according to a 2024 report about digital fraud in Africa.

Director-General Tommy Mkhode outlined these plans in the latest government gazette from the Department of Home Affairs, published 16th August 2024. Mkhode says there are two reasons a person’s ID document or card may be cancelled.

These include:

• “The ID has been issued to persons whose names are not required terms of section 5 of the Identification Act to be included in the population register,
• the ID does not correctly reflect the particulars of the persons to whom they were issued,
• the identity document or card was fraudulently obtained in that false statements were made and false information was provided at time of application and issuance,
• the ID or card was forged or lawfully issued document or card was stolen or unlawfully obtained or altered.”

The “cancelling” of the identity document would mean that in any service requiring you to input your ID number, such as applying for a government job, whatever the service is will not be able to find your ID and you therefore don’t exist in South Africa’s identity register.

“Through this move, Home Affairs aims to both resolve the decades-old issue of wrongfully blocked IDs while reducing the number of fraudulent documents in circulation,” says Home Affairs in a statement.

It adds that some of the IDs were originally blocked as far back as 2005 for a variety of reasons, including because the biometric system flagged the documents as duplicates, held by illegal immigrants, or because the ID holder had passed away.

Mkhonde says that any person who has ever had their ID blocked can now reach out to the Director-General personally and explain to them why you think your ID should be unblocked. These persons have 30 days from 16th August 2024 to reach the Director-General with their letters.

If no written reason is received, Mkhonde says they will proceed to cancel the ID or card accordingly.

“I encourage members of the public to make use of this opportunity to ensure that we conduct a just and equitable process to unblock IDs that have been wrongfully blocked. At the same time, the gazetting of these decisive measures underscores our commitment to clamp down on fraud, and to move with urgency to resolve longstanding challenges while upholding the rule of law,” he adds.

ID fraud came into the news again earlier in the month, when it was alleged that the mother of then-Miss SA participant Chidinma Adetshina had stolen her identity from a South African woman.

Letters with reasons for unblocking can be sent to: Sylvia(dot)Phasha(at)dha(dot)gov(dot)za.

[Image – Photo by Mpho Mojapelo on Unsplash]