Sept 2013 deadline for smart ID roll-out
The smart ID card project will be rolled out within the next 18 months, says Home Affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Government is expected to start rolling out the new smart ID card to citizens by September 2013.
Speaking during a briefing of the governance and administration cluster, Home Affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said the smart ID cards would be rolled within the next 18 months.
The smart ID card will be rolled out within 18 months, says Home Affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
“We will within 18 months roll out the new Smart ID Card to the nation. This will go a long way towards securing the integrity of the ID of our citizens. We are currently testing our systems and capability to produce the card through a pilot project which commenced in April 2012,” she explained.
In 2011, the department announced that the smart ID card initiative, would be implemented in the 2012/13 financial year.
In May, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) revealed it would issue 2000 smart card ID’s during the project’s pilot phase.
The DHA is currently in the first phase of the pilot project which will see it test IT systems, including the hardware and software to be used in the production of the smart cards.
The department will spend R5 million on the first phase roll-out of smart card IDs. The widespread roll-out of the project is expected to kick-off after 18 months to give the Government Printing Works (GPW) time to get new machinery and manufacture the cards to the department’s specifications
Last year, the department announced it would focus on overhauling its IT systems in preparation for the project. The initiative is currently being piloted through the GPW – which has produced an ID smart card for pilots and crew members which will serve as a precursor to the introduction of smart cards.
Valued at over R5 billion, the 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.
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candy hitekani: 
I’m just interested to know how this new system will actually reach and address the needs of South African’s who have yet to get the current green ID books. If Home Affairs can’t even ensure that the name, ID number and photograph of an individual are caputered correctly every time (using the current system) how can we be certain that they will deliver 100% satisfactory service with the new “smart IDs”?
I feel that Home Affairs can’t just jump at the latest technology, when it has shown the country’s people time and time again that sufficient numbers of its staff are corrupt and very willing to sell IDs to illegal foreign nationals.
I would be very interested to know the findings of the pilot phase of the roll out - just to see what the glitches were and how, if at all, they were resolved.
Also Home Affairs needs to start announcing whether or not the smart IDs will be free, or else it will have “etoll, part 2″ on its hands.