South Africa plans digital ID rollout to hyperlink authorities providers

South Africa’s Division of Residence Affairs plans to roll out a nationwide digital ID system earlier than year-end, a transfer that might enable authorities departments to hyperlink their providers digitally and enhance public entry. 

The federal government introduced the plan on Friday in Pretoria at a media briefing on progress beneath its medium-term improvement. 

South Africa’s id system stays weak, with many authorities departments nonetheless unable to share and use that knowledge in a synchronised digital method, usually forcing residents to repeatedly confirm their id throughout providers.

The digital ID rollout is anchored by the MyMzansi portal, launched in 2025 as a prototype one-stop platform for presidency providers. 

In response to the Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Analysis,  Maropene Ramokgopa, the system is designed to allow different departments, similar to transport and fundamental schooling, to make use of a shared id framework to digitise their providers. If carried out successfully, this could enable residents to entry a number of authorities providers with out repeatedly verifying their id throughout separate techniques.

The Division of Residence Affairs has spent the previous yr rolling out its digital transformation technique. Some key milestones embody 3.6 million good ID playing cards, surpassing its earlier annual document by roughly 500,000. The division additionally cleared a visa backlog of 306,000 purposes that had collected over a decade. 

Rolling out digital IDs nationwide stays a logistical problem in a rustic the place greater than 30% of the inhabitants lives in rural or distant areas. To handle this, Residence Affairs plans to deploy cellular workplaces to service communities with low inhabitants density.

The division says using digital instruments similar to drones and physique cameras at South Africa’s borders elevated the detection of unlawful crossings throughout key pilot phases. 

Digital IDs, mixed with the nationwide inhabitants register, would enable departments to authenticate residents for added providers. One deliberate utility is a digital driver’s licence, to cut back the price of producing bodily playing cards and simplify associated processes similar to licence renewals and site visitors advantageous funds.

The initiative additionally depends on partnerships with the non-public sector. Banks already present Residence Affairs providers at chosen branches and assist safe id verification techniques, serving to the federal government prolong its attain with out constructing all infrastructure internally.

To handle safety dangers, the division says its technique features a verification portal that may allow safe knowledge sharing between authorities entities to fight fraud, enhance service supply, and assist nationwide safety.

For South Africa, the digital ID rollout goals to create extra coordinated, accessible authorities providers. For different African international locations, it presents a sensible instance of how digital id techniques can assist cross-department integration and enhance service supply at scale.