South Africans urged to apply for smart ID cards
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber says plans are in place to speed up the roll-out of the ID cards.
Schreiber has urged South Africans to replace their old green ID books as the department looks to curb an increase in identity theft.
Last week, the department issued a government gazette notifying the public of its intention to cancel blocked or duplicate identity documents.
At the same time, the department says it's cut the backlog for smart ID cards by nearly 93,000 applications out of a total of 306,000.
READ: Home Affairs clamps down on ID fraud in new gazette
The department's spokesperson, Siya Qoza, says identity theft costs the country around R1.5 billion a year.
"We have mobile offices that we are rolling out, there are 227 of them. They have the capability to issue smart ID cards. We are encouraging people to go to our offices and make a booking to change to a smart ID card.
"If the office nearest to them does not have the technology to process smart cards, then they need to find out from the office, the next visit of a mobile office which will be able to do a card."
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