Home Affairs tackles duplicate IDs with new digital verification

Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, says that while the Department of Home Affairs does not have an exact figure for the number of duplicate identity document (ID) numbers currently recorded on the National Population Register, efforts are underway to resolve the issue.

His response comes to a parliamentary question raised by ActionSA's Member of Parliament, Lerato Ngobeni, regarding the creation of duplicate and missing IDs.

In a written parliamentary reply, Schreiber explained that the department is "on a drive to resolve and eliminate all duplicate ID numbers" by using digital verification processes as part of a broader digital transformation program.

He also stressed that there are "no missing/lost ID numbers on the National Population Register" because each ID number is uniquely assigned to an individual.

Ngobeni had asked Schreiber for details on the total number of duplicate and missing ID numbers, the causes of their creation or loss, and the measures the department is taking to prevent the re-issuance of duplicate IDs.

She also inquired whether the department had plans to amend the Identification Act, Act 68 of 1997, to address these issues.

In his response, Schreiber explained that the creation of duplicate IDs is caused by a variety of factors, including "identity theft, false registration of birth, multiple people sharing the same ID number, and one person being allocated multiple ID numbers due to multiple registrations."

These issues, Schreiber added, are being actively addressed through the department’s ongoing efforts.

To address the problem of duplicate IDs, Schreiber said that the department is rolling out a new digital verification function.

This system will utilise "facial recognition verification against the entire population register for certain transactions.

He went on to explain that this system will not only verify whether a person’s face matches their specific record,  but the new intelligent population register will also compare their biometric data against every record in the database.

Schreiber described this as "the design thinking behind the Digital ID system currently under development" and said that it is key to eliminating duplicate records.

Regarding legislative reform, Schreiber confirmed that the Department of Home Affairs is "in the process of amending legislation in line with constitutional and administrative justice requirements."

This includes the development of the Digital ID Policy and the National Identification Registration Bill, which Schreiber stated are part of the department’s "digital transformation journey."

hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za 

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