Home Affairs digital transformation surpasses major milestone

In March, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) announced an initiative to ramp up to digital transformation objectives, and in particular, the issuing of more smart IDs in South Africa. To that end, it enlisted the assistance of all major banks in SA to assist in the processing of smart ID applications.

Now, seven months later, the DHA has an updated, confirming that it has issued more than one million smart IDs as part of this partnership with local banks.

“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,” the DHA shared in an official statement.

“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%,” it added.

Some other key numbers highlighted by the department, include the fact that the application process is completely digitised, with 669 bank branches offering the smart ID-related services.

Added to this, an average application is said to take five minutes to complete, according to the DHA, “with no scope for the human discretion, paperwork or manual procedures that previously left space for corruption and manipulation.”

Given the success of this programme, another important document will be added to the mix, with the department set to roll out passport, first-time Smart ID, and home delivery services through all of these bank branches soon.

“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,” noted Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber (pictured above).

“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,” he continued.

To find out where your nearest branch that supports smart ID applications is, we advise clicking on the story embedded below.

Bank branches where you can apply for a smart ID in South Africa

[Image – CC BY-ND 2.0 GovernmentZA on Flickr]

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