The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, has welcomed a decision by the Association of Comms and Technology (ACT) to withdraw its court application that sought to challenge the fee corrections implemented by the Department to fix, upgrade and maintain its Online Verification Service (OVS). ACT had filed legal papers in December 2025 in the Gauteng High Court to challenge the new fee structure for private companies that utilise the Department’s OVS to verify the identities of their clients against the Population Register. The corrected fees went into effect on 1 July 2025, following a period of public consultation and with concurrence from the Minister of Finance, in full compliance with the requirements of the Identification Act, 68 of 1997.
On 8 April 2026, the attorneys for ACT formally notified the court that it had withdrawn its application against the Department, bringing the matter to finality. At the same time, a number of mobile network operators that are members of ACT have now reached out to work with the Department to support government’s digital transformation agenda, including the development of a cutting-edge Digital Identity system that will deliver unprecedented improvements in access, efficiency and security to South Africans.
The Department of Home Affairs has provided the OVS since 2013. However, prior to the corrections implemented on 1 July 2025, there had been no fee adjustment for 12 years. The inappropriately low pricing of just 15 cents for a real-time verification deprived the Department of the resources required to maintain and upgrade the system, while also incentivising overuse that contributed to system downtimes at Home Affairs offices. As a result, by 2025, over 50% of verification attempts failed. Even in the case of successful verifications, response times often took hours, defeating the purpose of the real-time verification service. Following the fee increase on 1 July 2025 to R10 per real-time verification, as well as the introduction of a low-cost off-peak batch option costing R1 for private sector users, the Department implemented significant upgrades to the OVS that has improved uptime to 99%, with the service now consistently returning real-time verification results in mere seconds. Under the adjusted fee structure, public sector users continue to access the OVS at no charge.
Minister Schreiber said: “The upgrades to the OVS, including the fee corrections, have empowered Home Affairs to replace a system on the verge of collapse with a world-class verification service. This reform is also at the heart of our new digital partnership model with the banking sector, which, just one month after it went live, already provides lightning-fast Smart ID services at 110 bank branches - with additional services and many more branches to come across the country. This constitutes one of the most pro-inclusion reforms in the Department’s history.”
Minister Schreiber concluded: “I am excited that a number of mobile network operators have now committed to collaborate with us to tackle challenges and harness opportunities in this domain, including identity verification for SIM cards and the rollout of Digital ID. The withdrawal of this court challenge creates an opportunity for telecommunications companies to take their rightful place as key stakeholders in our digital transformation journey, and I look forward to working with the sector to further accelerate this agenda, which is already delivering tangible benefits for our country.”
Media Enquiries:
Carli van Wyk
Spokesperson to the Minister
Cell: 079 166 3899
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