Home Affairs Urges South Africans to Replace Smart ID Cards Ahead of Local Government Elections

PRETORIA, Gauteng — With just 49 days remaining before South Africans head to the polls for the local government elections, the Department of Home Affairs is urgently calling on citizens to replace lost, stolen, or damaged Smart ID cards. Deputy Director-General for Operations Thulani Mavuso emphasized that the department, alongside more than 450 participating bank branches, is fully prepared to handle the pre-election rush and ensure all eligible voters have valid identification.

Addressing the current state of national identification, Mavuso revealed that over 341,000 Smart ID cards have remained uncollected over the past decade. Despite this backlog, the department has successfully issued 34 million Smart ID cards since their inception, comprising 25 million reissues and 9.7 million first-time issuances for young people who are now eligible to vote.

The strategic integration of banking institutions has significantly expanded the department’s service footprint. Since March, participating banks have issued approximately 700,000 to 750,000 Smart ID cards, with some clients experiencing collection times of under five minutes at major capital branches. For standard applications processed through Home Affairs offices, turnaround times range from 5 to 13 days. This variance depends on location; applications in Pretoria, where the cards are physically printed, are processed faster. Additionally, applications with clear, verifiable fingerprints bypass back-office checks and proceed directly to the printing queue.

To accommodate all citizens, Home Affairs has implemented strict prioritization protocols for the elderly, individuals with disabilities, and school children in uniform. Starting next week, coinciding with school holidays, department office hours will be extended, with closures pushed to 18:00 to provide quieter, quicker collection periods. On election day itself, Home Affairs offices will remain open from 07:00 to 19:00, aligning perfectly with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) voting hours.

Addressing concerns about voters losing their identification close to the election, Mavuso assured the public that a Temporary Identity Certificate (TIC) can be issued on the spot at any Home Affairs office. The TIC is legally accepted by the IEC for voting purposes and remains valid for six months. Its issuance is strictly guarded by biometric verification to prevent fraud, and it is automatically paired with a formal application for a replacement Smart ID card.

Mavuso also reinforced that the integrity of the voter’s roll remains completely secure. Because the roll is generated directly from the national population register, election officials can easily cross-reference the photograph and biographical details on a voter’s TIC with the official roll, eliminating any risk of fraudulent voting or duplicate collections.

Furthermore, the Deputy Director-General delivered a stark warning regarding the outdated green ID book. Following the President’s June address declaring the document vulnerable and slated to be outlawed, the Minister of Home Affairs will soon announce a definitive timeline for its phase-out over the next two years. Citizens are strongly urged to transition to the secure Smart ID card immediately, as the green book will eventually cease to be a legally recognized document for financial and official transactions.

The department’s outreach efforts also extend to South Africans living abroad and the parents of newly eligible 16-year-olds. Mavuso highlighted that a significant portion of uncollected cards belongs to teenagers, citing specific offices in Belleville, Cape Town, where parents are encouraged to treat the collection of a child’s first Smart ID card as a celebratory milestone rather than a bureaucratic chore.

With the local government elections rapidly approaching, the Department of Home Affairs continues to urge all South Africans to utilize the expanded network of offices and bank branches to ensure their documentation is in order well before the final rush.