https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Over one-million smart IDs issued

28th January 2015

By: Sapa

  

Font size: - +

Over a million smart-ID cards have been issued in less than a year, home affairs director general Mkuseli Apleni said on Wednesday.

"We are confident of reaching the target of 1.6-million [smart-ID] cards by the end of 2014/15 financial year," he said in a speech prepared for delivery in Johannesburg.

"We are really moving, considering this process only started in 2013."

The department was implementing a programme to make its systems faster and more secure.

"It used to take 54 days for you to get an ID book. Now with the new smart-ID card it takes less than 10 days," Apleni said.

Of the 403 home affairs offices, 110 were equipped with a "live capture" system for processing smart-ID cards and new passports. By March it was expected that 140 offices would have the new technology.

The smart-ID cards could only be issued at the offices where the new live capture system was in place. This had resulted in long queues at some of these stations.

Apleni said the old green ID books remained valid. These could be applied for at offices that had not yet migrated to the new system.

The bandwidth required for optimum functioning of the live capture system remained a problem.

It was in talks with the State Information Technology Agency and Telkom to find ways to provide greater bandwidth, optic fibre cables, and prevent cable theft in metropolitan areas.

The department was also making provision to deal with power cuts.

"We conduct scheduled systems upgrades and make provision for sufficient capacity generators to ensure systems are able to function even when there are power outages around the country," he said.

Edited by Sapa

Comments

Showroom

Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.306 0.41s - 138pq - 3rq
Subscribe Now