Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen.
We take this opportunity once more to welcome our colleagues from the media for making time to attend our briefings. We believe most sincerely that the briefings will assist both members of the media and the public in understanding the mandate, vision and mission of the department, successes and achievements including challenges we face in delivering quality services to all our people as part of national efforts to create a better life for all South Africans.
While the briefings are also intended to create space for members of the media to interact with the department on a range of issues of interest, today we wish to focus our attention on the scourge of duplicate identity documents (IDs) that continue to create havoc in the lives of those affected South Africans.
In this regard, we wish to draw the attention of the media to comments made by Minister of Home Affairs Naledi Pandor during the delivery of her Budget Speech in the National Assembly early this year in which, among others, she said:
“We have been trying to eliminate duplicate IDs since 2009. We had over 50 000 when we began our campaign. We now believe we have just over 20 000 in circulation. We have tried to encourage holders to come forward to resolve duplicates. I intend to invalidate all duplicate IDs in December this year. All holders of duplicate IDs should approach our offices to seek assistance. We are working closely with the financial sector to smooth the inconvenience that may result from invalidation.”
Today we stand ready to announce the steps that the department will now undertake towards the realization of the vision of Minister Pandor in invalidating duplicate IDs. In dealing with the issue of duplicate IDs we are dealing with two categories, namely:
- One person having been allocated multiple ID numbers
- And/or two people sharing the same ID number
The scourge of duplicate IDs arose from three main sources. Firstly, the advent of democracy in 1994 witnessed the integration of all former homelands and central home affairs departments into one single non-racial department. This resulted in instances where ID numbers were duplicated.
Secondly, crime syndicates working in collusion with some government officials, aimed at securing IDs fraudulently to advance their nefarious activities also helped create a further category of duplicate IDs.
The third category arose from citizens attempting to escape debt or being placed on ITC, who, working in conjunction with government officials made changes to details in either their dates of births or identity numbers resulting in the duplication of ID numbers.
In either category, the consequence of duplicate IDs remain an
(i) inability to access social services of government
(ii) the illegal use of innocent citizens’ identity details by criminal syndicates, and
(iii) finally the inability to access enabling documents and services such as passports, conclusion of marriage, divorce, registration of child birth and other services.
Way forward: invalidation of duplicate IDs from October 2013
In pursuant of our overall objective of helping address the challenges created by duplicate IDs, the Department has now decided to invalidate duplicate IDs from the end of October this year. The implication of invalidation is that such identity numbers will no longer be valid.
Accordingly, all those identity numbers which are associated with duplicate numbers will be cancelled and removed from the National Population Register with effect from end of October 2013.
As part of this process, and to help those affected, we call upon the citizenry to verify the status of their IDs by one of the options listed below:
- sms the letter “D” before your ID number to 32551
- visit the Home Affairs website- www.dha.gov.za and follow the link “duplicate”
- contact our DHA call centre number: 0800 60 1190
- visit any Home Affairs office at home and abroad in RSA diplomatic missions.
In addition to the above, the Department of Home Affairs has established a dedicated Call Centre numbers, with some operating 24 hours to assist members of the public to verify their IDs. These are, starting with the ones operating from 07h30 – 17h00 (Mon – Fri):
- 012 406 7006
- 012 300 8727
- 012 300 8723
- 012 300 8703
- 012 300 8706
The ones operating 24 hours are:
- 072 634 0614
- 072 634 0683
- 072 634 0589
- 072 634 0408
- 073 567 4131
- 073 567 4516
- 082 902 8965
Minister Pandor to deliver a public lecture at Wits Business School
Minister Naledi Pandor will this evening, Thursday 19 September at 18h30, deliver a public lecture at the Wits Business School, Donald Gordon Auditorium, 2 St. David's Place, Parktown in Johannesburg.
The public lecture by Minister Pandor arises from the partnership the Department of Home Affairs has with Wits Business School’s Executive Programme.
Minister Pandor will be joined by the Director of African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University, Professor Loren Landau to discuss topics ranging from immigration, xenophobia, corruption within Home Affairs, the new Smart ID card and many other issues affecting the department.
To date, the partnership between the Department of Home Affairs and Wits Business School has seen a number of senior Home Affairs officials graduating in a course offered jointly by the Wits Business School and the Department of Home Affairs’ Learning Academy.
This project continues to receive the support of Minister Pandor and the leadership of the Wits Business School.
According to the Wits Business School, Minister Pandor’s lecture will form part of the institution’s objective to be at the forefront of national debates, to provide a platform for the development of critical thought and enterprising action to help develop the economy and societies in transition.
Media is invited as follows
Date : Thursday, 19 September 2013
Time : 17:30 for 18:00
Venue : Donald Gordon Auditorium, Wits Business School, 2 St. David's Place, Parktown in Johannesburg
