The South African Home Affairs Department may start issuing "smart ID cards" as early as 2004, if talks on a funding model and additional functionality proceed according to plan, says Ernest Ledwaba, Home Affairs chief director of IT.
Ledwaba, addressing the Cards Africa 2002 conference at the Dome at Northgate yesterday, said the new biometric technology and enhanced security that smart ID cards could offer would reduce ID fraud. It also had the potential to enable other applications in the government`s overall e-government strategy.
The project to issue smart ID cards falls under the Home Affairs National Identification System electronic identification project, and replaces the initial plan to issue two-dimensional bar-coded ID cards that would have served purely as a means of identification.
The smart ID card will include visual identification in the form of a photograph as well as fingerprints. It can be used by government agencies and private entities for identification purposes.
"The smart ID card also has the potential to enable applications such as UIF and welfare pay-outs, so minimising the number of documents and cards citizens must carry," said Ledwaba.
Talks are under way with the National Treasury on funding models for the new smart ID card system. He says a feasibility study is to be completed this year, and Cabinet approval for the implementation plan must be secured before the project can begin rolling out.
"It is expected that we will need to issue between 30 million and 40 million smart ID cards, and we envisage doing so over a five-year period."
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