Smart ID card roll-out on course

The smart ID cards would be rolled out to all first-time ID and re-issue applicants.

In November, Home Affairs said it would soon issue the tender for printing infrastructure for the smart card ID project.

Home Affairs says it will introduce the first smart ID card in the second quarter of this current financial year.

Speaking during her budget presentation to Parliament, Home Affairs minister, Naledi Pandor, said the smart ID cards would be rolled out to all first-time ID and re-issue applicants.

The department is currently piloting the smart ID card - a contactless card containing a microchip embedded with biometric security features - which is set to replace the current green bar-coded ID and have a lifespan of 10 years. In 2011, the department announced that the smart ID card initiative would be implemented in the 2012/13 financial year. The ID cards are expected to be available by September 2013.

The department was in the process of testing its systems and capability to produce the card through a pilot project which kicked off in April 2012.

The R5 billion smart ID tender for the project was cancelled in August 2009, after accusations of procedural irregularities in the tender process surfaced the previous year when the contract was awarded.

In November, the department announced it had issued 100 of the 200 smart IDs it would release during the pilot to test the functionality and durability of