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Green ID book success in South Africa
South Africa’s national identification system has been a tremendous success, providing almost all citizens with a legal identity and earning the country significant savings, a World Bank case study has found.
The study, conducted for the World Bank’s Identification for Development Initiative in 2019, found that South Africa’s approach offered valuable lessons for countries looking to increase the coverage, robustness, and use of their ID systems.
“Since the end of apartheid, South Africa’s national identification system has been transformed from a tool of oppression to one for inclusion and the delivery of social services,” the report stated.
“The ID system is now closely integrated with civil registration, boasts high coverage among all segments of the population, and has been instrumental for effective service delivery and a cost-effective electoral process.”
According to the report, there were several critical success factors that played an important role in promoting a robust and inclusive ID ecosystem in South Africa.
“Civil registration and identification services are closely integrated, including with the health sector,” it stated.
“Identification services are kept accessible via a relatively large network of dedicated offices, supplemented by mobile units and hospital birth registration points.”
Another important factor in ensuring the success of South Africa’s national ID system was linking it to social programmes such as the Child Support Grant.
This provided a clear incentive for people to register the births of their children and obtain an ID.
However, mitigating exclusion risk remains a challenge, the report noted.
The ID system also became successful because it is well-resourced due to a regular, annual budget allocation and continued political commitment to maintaining a robust system, the report said.
“The ID system operates based on strategic plans and key performance indicators are regularly monitored by the managers,” it stated.
“The ID system is leveraging various digital technologies for effective service provision, with upgrades being implemented gradually.”
It also highlighted that the introduction of identity verification services has enabled private sector entities to reap additional benefits, and allowed the Department of Home Affairs to generate an additional revenue stream.
The report said that in addition to empowering virtually every citizen with a legal identity, the system has enabled better-administered social protection programmes, and increased data quality and volume for evidence-based decision making.
It has also brought improved fraud detection and reduced transaction costs in the private sector, as well as substantial cost savings and greater integrity of elections.
According to the report, South Africa generated estimated savings of $314 million (R5.9 billion) over the three election cycles from 2000 through 2014 by leveraging its robust and high-coverage civil registration and ID system.
“Linking ID to the delivery of social protection programmes has generated substantial indirect savings by the boost it gave to the coverage of birth registration and the national ID,” the report continued.
“The reregistration of beneficiaries of social grants cost $24 million (R454 million), while generating savings of $173 million (R3.3 billion) annually.”
It also said that the availability of robust administrative data made it possible to skip the planned census of 2016. Had it been held, it was estimated to have a cost of R3 billion.
Additionally, high-quality vital statistics, underpinned by the near-universal civil registration system, enabled authorities to conduct evidence-based policy-making, improving development outcomes in public health and elsewhere.
Goodbye green ID book
While the World Bank’s Identification for Development Initiative praised South Africa’s national identity system rollout, it has begun showing its age in recent years.
One major concern was that South Africa’s green ID book was increasingly being used for identity theft and fraud.
Smile ID’s 2024 Digital Identity Fraud report found that South Africa’s green ID book was the most targeted in Africa for fraudulently gaining access to various services.
In addition to being used to access welfare benefits, Home Affairs recently reported that they had picked up forged documents used to apply for bank loans.
To address this problem, Home Affairs started rolling out an electronic ID (eID) smart card to replace the ID book in 2013.
However, the rollout of the new ID card has fallen woefully short of the department’s initial targets to produce an average of 3 million cards per year and phase out the green ID book by 2021.
A huge obstacle to phasing out the green ID book is the fact that permanent residents and naturalised citizens couldn’t apply for eIDs.
Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said they hoped to address the shortcoming in 2025.
In recent interviews, Schreiber said Home Affairs would significantly expand the option to apply for a smart ID card across South Africa.
He said the Department of Home Affairs wants to stop issuing green ID books in 2025 if they can.
“It is an internal target we are working towards to ensure that our department is fully invested in issuing smart IDs,” he said.
Once they achieve this target, he said the department will finally look at eliminating green ID books altogether.
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