Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber’s message to people with green ID books

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the government is focusing on digital transformation and phasing out the legacy green bar-coded ID book.

Over the last two years, Schreiber has repeatedly warned South Africans with green ID books that they face significant risks.

Green ID books are vulnerable to fraud and identity theft. Many people, including Home Affairs officials, were engaged in unlawful activity related to green ID books.

The manipulation of identity documents and identity theft often result in illegal credit applications, loans, and fraud. 

To address this problem, the Department of Home Affairs is on a drive to replace green ID books with smart ID cards.

As part of this drive, the department has partnered with major banks in all provinces to make applying for a smart ID quick and easy.

“This enabled South Africans to switch from the vulnerable green ID book or replace their smart ID card if they have lost it,” he said.

He explained that the new application process for a smart ID card at a bank branch takes as little as five minutes.

Although green ID books are still printed, this will stop soon, Home Affairs deputy director-general Thulani Mavuso said.

Mavuso said they were looking to stop producing green ID books in 2026 and to discard the machine that produces them.

However, before they can stop producing green ID books, they must ensure that everyone in the country has access to a smart ID card.

“We believe that in this calendar year, we can achieve that. The minister will announce the date that we stop production and take away the machine,” Mavuso said.

“The second part will be the date when the date of invalidity will be announced, so you can no longer use it as legal identification.”

This message was reiterated by President Cyril Ramaphosa during a meeting of the National Council of Provinces.

Ramaphosa said that the green ID book would be eliminated as an official means of identification to crack down on illegal immigration.

“We are establishing an Intelligent Population Register with biometric data underpinned by a Digital ID and phasing out the green ID books that enable identity theft,” he said.

The Department of Home Affairs under Leon Schreiber

Leon Schreiber was appointed as South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs on 30 June 2024 and was officially sworn in on 3 July 2024.

On 3 July 2026, two years after he took the reins, Schreiber provided a progress report of the department under the government of national unity (GNU).

He said that their digital partnership extended the Smart ID replacement service to 203 bank branches.

The next step in this project is to ramp the reach up to 750 branches and add first-time ID applications, passports, and home delivery.

The department has issued a record 4 million Smart IDs in the 2026 financial year, over 1.3 million more than the previous annual average.

Its plan is to continue this rapid rollout to eliminate the fraud-prone Green ID across South Africa.

The department is also moving ahead with the digitalisation of smart ID and passport applications abroad to cut turnaround times.

They are not stopping their digitisation. The Minister has published the Digital ID regulations, which are open for public comment.

The Department of Home Affairs is working to get the final regulations promulgated and launch a Digital ID prototype.

For tourist visas, they have introduced an electronic travel authorisation with facial recognition and document verification for citizens of 4 countries.

This will be scaled up for all visa-required countries, and additional visa categories will be added.

Under Schreiber, the department has also cleared the historic visa backlog and significantly reduced turnaround times.

They have also cracked down on crime in the department, with 98 dismissals, 40 arrests and 10 convictions for corruption and maladministration.