19 Jun SA Digital ID: What Schreiber’s Draft Rules Mean

The Minister of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), Dr Leon Schreiber, has announced draft regulations proposing a secure, smartphone-based digital ID system that will operate alongside physical, existing Smart ID Cards.

Banks and other private sector ‘trusted entities’ will potentially be able to operate enrolment points and receive automatic updates from the national population register. This creates a verification ecosystem in which private actors mediate access to services that require identity verification.

What are The SA Digital ID Draft Regulations?

According to Minister Schreiber, the draft regulations propose the creation of secure Digital Identity credentials that will exist alongside the DHA’s physical products.

By introducing the ability to confirm their identity remotely through biometric verification, South African citizens will be able to store, access, and utilise secure digital versions of their DHA products directly in their smartphones. These documents include IDs, birth certificates, and marriage certificates.

As physical Smart IDs will continue to exist parallel to this new digital system, the use of the Digital Identity system will be completely optional.

The draft amendments are intended to:

• Clarify the status of Digital Identity credentials as a valid identity under the Act, without affecting the continued validity of physical identity cards.
• Prescribe standards for biometric capture, identity, and enrolment assurance for Digital Identity credentials.
• Lay the foundation for interoperability with both private and public sectors, including enabling the delivery of government services in a digital format.
• Tighten safeguards concerning how identity information may be shared with accredited institutions, with access strictly regulated under the Identification Act of 1997, the Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000, and the Protection of Personal Information Act of 2013.
• Promote the population register as the single authoritative record of identity and civic status information.

What’s The Reasoning Behind The SA Digital ID?

The DHA’s overhaul of its identity management framework aims to address identity fraud risks that continue to cost the economy greatly, as well as navigate citizens without official identity documents who are facing exclusion from social grants, banking, employment, and healthcare.

Although the rollout of the Smart ID card in 2013 significantly improved the security of physical documentation, it did not resolve the underlying fragmentation of verifying digital identity.

The implementation of this digitalised system aims to combat identity theft, financial crimes, illegal immigration, and corruption while simultaneously improving service delivery and privacy protections.

Minister Schreiber described the digital identity system as “…the ultimate expression of our vision to leverage digital transformation to deliver Home Affairs @ home.”

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