WHY IS THE GREEN ID BEING PHASED OUT?

The Book That Refuses to Die

For many citizens the booklet is a pocket museum: the purple thumbprint placed at sixteen, a marriage stamp from a distant Home Affairs counter, a corner laminated to preserve the 1994 voter-roll ink. The presses that once rattled off 2.1 million copies a year now stand silent, and the last warehouse stock is expected to run out by October 2027. Until then, every transaction - grant collection, job application, bond registration - keeps the paper relic alive one signature at a time.

Technology, Fraud and the Long Queue

The smart card boasts a biometric chip, laser-etched photo and cryptographic keys that refresh every ninety days; a blank stolen from the factory is useless without a fresh digital signature. The green booklet, by contrast, carries only watermarks and security fibres that desktop scanners can now replicate. Criminal syndicates in Johannesburg and Maputo buy blank booklets from rogue clerks, fill them in with fountain pens and sell the finished product for R2 800 to undocumented migrants. Last year forensic teams in the Western Cape linked sixteen fraudulently issued green ID books to SIM cards later used to coordinate cash-in-transit heists.

Yet shiny technology does not guarantee universal uptake. A 2025 University of Cape Town survey of 3 500 pensioners found that one-third could not figure out how to book an online appointment, another third feared their fingerprints would be “sold to foreign governments,” and the rest lived more than seventy kilometres from the nearest capture station and could not afford the taxi fare. Home Affairs once promised every adult would hold a smart card by 2021; a decade later only sixty-five per cent have converted. Rolling black-outs, water cuts and cyber-attacks repeatedly shuttered the live-capture network. During a generator failure at the Grootfontein satellite office in April 2023, six hundred elderly applicants spent the winter dusk outside; several collapsed with hypothermia and the pictures went viral.

To absorb the pressure, First National Bank and Nedbank began pilot kiosks in 2024; by September 2026 biometric desks will operate in 750 branches. A Saturday-morning visitor can now swipe a debit card, pay R140 and roll her fingerprints on a glass plate while a consultant stands nearby. The convenience bypasses Home Affairs halls but creates new deserts of exclusion: rural municipalities without bank branches and citizens who lack accounts must first queue for a transactional banking product before they can apply for the card that proves they exist.

Legal Limbo, Memory Wars and the Road to 2030

Until a minister formally sets a sunset clause, every green booklet stamped “South African Citizen by Birth” remains technically valid, and the state must live with the duplication. The Electoral Commission, SASSA and the revenue service have already pencilled in their own deadlines: new grant applications will no longer accept green booklets after 1 April 2028; SARS will retire income-tax numbers and rely solely on smart-card IDs by 1 March 2029; the 2030 general election will mark the final hard stop for the paper relic. Analysts predict that by the end of 2028 only about 800 000 adults - most of them over seventy-five - will still carry the booklet.

The Government Printing Works plans to retrofit two of its six intaglio presses to emboss polycarbonate rather than paper, eliminating 120 printing jobs while creating 200 biometric-technician learnerships. Four mobile capture buses, powered by recycled electric-vehicle batteries, will roam the countryside issuing emergency smart cards at 120 a day. Yet for now the green booklet endures as both scar and shield: older users remember the dompas that once justified arrest, but also the 1994 polling station where the same booklet became the ticket to the first democratic vote. A Soweto jazz musician carries his on stage, the page still marked “DEPARTED” beside the date he flew into exile; a Khoisan activist refuses conversion until the card accommodates his clan name; thirty retirees in Gqeberha keep theirs in a locked drawer as a memory theatre for future grandchildren.

Meanwhile, in the shadow of the rollout, an informal economy flourishes. Queue marshals at the Durban MTN rank charge R50 to hold a 4 a.m. place in the Home Affairs line and another R100 to upload documents from an adjacent internet café. A retired teacher in Lusikisiki teaches villagers to snap compliant photos with a smartphone and prints them for R5 a sheet. A Cape Town NGO partners with funeral parlours to capture biometric data when bereaved families already have their paperwork spread across the dining-room table.

Cyber-criminals, for their part, target the live-capture tablets themselves. When Transnet detected key-logging malware at the Richards Bay port office this June, investigators realised that fingerprint templates sit locally until the nightly sync window, a vulnerability the analogue booklet never posed. Privacy advocates argue that maintaining a dual system - smart card for online transactions, green booklet for analogue ones - spreads risk, but officials insist the duplication window is exactly what fraudsters exploit to open ghost bank accounts.

International lessons are sobering: India’s Aadhaar rollout phased out paper ration cards within seven years by making digital ID a prerequisite for subsidised grain, while Nigeria abandoned a 2019 switch after biometric failures left two million voters off the rolls. Ghana closed the last mile by allowing village chiefs to vouch orally when fingerprints failed, a model now championed by traditional leaders in Limpopo. As South Africa inches toward the hard cut-off, the green booklet lingers, frayed yet stubborn, between artefact and instrument - banks still ask for it, grandmothers still tuck it under their blouses, but the presses lie silent and the last reams of security paper await an order that will never come.

What is happening to South Africa's green ID booklet?

South Africa is phasing out its old green ID booklet and replacing it with a new smart card. The transition is expected to be largely complete by 2030, though the old booklets remain technically valid until a formal sunset clause is announced. Various government departments, however, have their own deadlines; for example, new grant applications will not accept green booklets after April 1, 2028.

Why is South Africa replacing the green ID booklet?

The green ID booklet is being replaced primarily due to security concerns. It is easily faked by criminals, who can purchase blank booklets and fill them in to create fraudulent identities. The new smart card, in contrast, boasts advanced security features like a biometric chip, laser-etched photos, and cryptographic keys, making it significantly harder to counterfeit.

What are the challenges in rolling out the new smart card?

Despite the technological advancements, the rollout of the smart card faces several challenges. Many people, especially older citizens in rural areas, struggle with the new process due to difficulties booking online appointments, fear of biometric data misuse, and the long distances to capture stations. Infrastructure issues like rolling blackouts and cyber-attacks have also disrupted the live-capture network. This has led to only 65% of adults converting to the new card a decade after the initial target.

How are banks involved in the smart card rollout?

To alleviate pressure on Home Affairs, First National Bank and Nedbank launched pilot kiosks in 2024. By September 2026, biometric desks are expected to operate in 750 bank branches, allowing citizens to apply for the smart card for a fee. While this offers convenience, it creates new challenges for individuals in rural areas without bank branches or those who don't have bank accounts, as they must first establish a banking relationship.

How long will the green ID booklet remain valid?

The green ID booklet remains technically valid until a minister formally sets a sunset clause. However, different government entities are setting their own deadlines. For instance, new grant applications won't accept green booklets after April 1, 2028, and SARS will rely solely on smart-card IDs by March 1, 2029. The 2030 general election is anticipated to be the final hard stop for the paper booklet.

What are the social and economic impacts of this transition?

The transition has created a complex social landscape. The green booklet holds significant historical and personal value for many, representing key life events and democratic milestones. Its phasing out, while necessary for security, can evoke feelings of loss and exclusion, particularly for older generations. Economically, the move will eliminate some printing jobs while creating new opportunities in biometric technology. An informal economy has also emerged around the transition, with services like queue marshals and photo printing assisting those navigating the new system.