Smart ID delays for permanent residents and new citizens
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber acknowledges that these delays are causing distress to some applicants.
The road to making the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) more accessible to South Africans has been fraught with challenges.
A common complaint is the lack of service delivery, with the most frequent issue being system delays or the department's inability to meet the growing demand.
The DHA has acknowledged the delays in issuing Smart ID to naturalised citizens and permanent residents, attributing these setbacks to "technical constraints".
According to Business Tech, "while the DHA has expanded its Smart ID and passport systems rollout to various branches and satellite offices at banks and shopping malls, the cards are still only easily issued to South African citizens".
Naturalised citizens and permanent residents continue to face delays and frustration, often being turned away from branches.
The move to introduce DHA offices within bank branches and malls was intended to make the service more accessible, but these ongoing issues suggest there is still much work to be done.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber acknowledged the delays, attributing them to IT constraints.
"Severe IT issues have emerged as a significant barrier, and urgent efforts are underway to address these challenges," he said.
He reassured the public that these delays are being tackled as a priority, with the DHA focusing on assisting naturalised citizens with their Smart IDs.
However, he noted that this process is currently manual and requires inviting prospective applicants individually.
Schreiber has set a target to make Smart IDs available to all eligible South Africans by the end of 2025.
During the State of the Nation debate in February, Schreiber highlighted the department's goal of expanding access to Smart ID services, with plans to extend availability to "hundreds, or even a thousand bank branches" to improve accessibility.
While the goal may seem ambitious, it's certainly achievable, and we remain hopeful that the IT delays will be resolved once and for all.
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