South Africans now have more than double the number of locations where they can apply for a Smart ID Card, following the expansion of the Department of Home Affairs' Digital Partnership with Absa, which also includes the launch of the country's first bank-based Home Affairs mobile unit.
Absa becomes the fourth banking partner to join the Department's Digital Partnership, with the new mobile unit set to bring secure Smart ID services directly to remote, peri-urban, and previously underserved communities. The initiative is aimed at extending access to Home Affairs' digital services beyond traditional departmental offices.
Launching the partnership in Tembisa on Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister, Dr Leon Schreiber, said the reforms are designed to make identity services more accessible.
"For far too long, accessing Home Affairs meant taking a taxi or a bus, missing a day of work, standing in long queues, and spending hours simply to apply for an identity document. Our Home Affairs @ Home reform programme is changing that forever by bringing Home Affairs to where people live, work and bank," Schreiber said.
The launch builds on the rapid expansion of the Digital Partnership, which went live on 9 March 2026.
The Minister highlighted that in just four and a half months, the department has expanded to 327 participating bank branches.
“Together with the department's 214 modernised Home Affairs offices, South Africans can now access Smart ID services at 541 locations, compared to just 214 before the partnership began.
“This is the fastest expansion of access to Home Affairs services since the dawn of democracy, with the Digital Partnership already adding more Smart ID service points than the entire modernised Home Affairs network that existed when the reform programme began,” Schreiber said.
The Minister said the Digital Partnership is expected to expand to approximately 750 participating bank branches by the end of the year.
Together with Home Affairs offices, he said this will give South Africans access to around 1 000 locations where they can apply for a Smart ID Card – nearly five times the number of access points that existed just two years ago.
Schreiber added that the Digital Partnership will also be expanded before the end of the year to include applications for adult and minor passports, first-time Smart ID Cards applications and, in the next major milestone, home delivery of identity documents directly to citizens' homes.
"Through Home Affairs @ home, we are making it easier than ever before for South Africans to replace the fraud-prone green barcoded ID book with the secure Smart ID Card. Together, we are closing the chapter on the fraud-prone green barcoded ID book and opening a new chapter of secure, digitalised identity services that delivers dignity for all,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za
