Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor
The national roll-out of South Africa’s new smart identification document (ID) cards was expected to cost about R5.34-billion, Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor has confirmed.
This was based on the 38.2-million IDs registered in the National Population Register as at May 21, she said in response to a Parliamentary question posed by Inkatha Freedom Party MP Narend Singh.
It was unclear whether the estimated national roll-out pricing supplied included the retrofitting of regional offices with technology to the do live capturing of applicants’ information or the R40-million that was spent on four new machines to print 1 000 ID cards an hour using laser engraving technology.
The new smart ID card was officially introduced on July 18, with the delivery to the broader public to be announced in due course.
Citizens were expected to pay the current R140 fee for replacement, with the fee waivered for first-time applicants, as was currently the case.
Pandor noted, however, that the Department of Home Affairs was currently in talks with National Treasury about the possibility of exempting persons who were poverty-stricken or receiving social grants.