Good news for people who want to get their smart ID cards and passports from banks

Home Affairs and South Africa’s banks have finalised an agreement that will enable the expansion of smart ID card applications and passport renewals to more bank branches.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) partnered with major banks to pilot its eHomeAffairs service over several years.

The project was launched in 2016 and gradually grew from a handful of branches to roughly 30.

The service enables South Africans to apply for a smart ID card or a new passport without visiting a conventional Home Affairs office, which is generally infamous for its long queues, system downtime, and dismal waiting spaces.

Users are able to fill out all the application forms and pay for their documents on an online portal.

They must then book slots at the branch of a bank where they are a customer to submit themselves for biometrics, photos, and a digital signing of the application.

Once their document is ready, they will receive a notification via SMS to collect it from the same branch.

Six banks currently have at least one branch that supports the service — Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank.

The service has proven very popular and has received high praise from many users for its speed and convenience, with many people in and out of the bank branch in just a few minutes.

Even those who need to wait longer can enjoy better amenities than in your typical Home Affairs branch— including comfortable seating, air conditioning, and free Wi-Fi.

However, the service’s footprint remains very limited and the supporting branches are not well dispersed.

Seventeen of the 30 bank branches are located in Gauteng, which is also the only province with branches from all six participating banks.

Although the province has the biggest population in South Africa, it accounts for far less than half the country’s residents.

In addition, two provinces don’t have any branches that support the service.

The slow uptake is because banks cannot benefit meaningfully from the current arrangement and have to take on some risk when it comes to service quality.

In the current eHomeAffairs format, the department deploys its staff members to handle the biometrics and collection, while bank staff can only assist with queue management.

The Banking Association of South Africa (Basa) has been negotiating an agreement with the DHA to give banks more control in the eHomeAffairs ecosystem, including allowing their employees to facilitate the service.

Basa was asked to step in after the banks grew frustrated with the department’s slow progress in developing the pilot into a full public-private partnership (PPP).

In September 2024, Basa told MyBroadband the agreement was close to being finalised. It explained that lawyers were ironing out the legalities of the agreement.

In a more recent update, Basa confirmed to MyBroadband that the PPP agreement was done and dusted.

“Progress has been slow with the Christmas break, but the main agreement has been finalised,” said Basa prudential head Mark Brits. “We continue to engage on the annexures through the DHA committee structures.”

Home Affairs minister wants thousands more eHomeAffairs bank branches

The banks currently offering the service already have at least another 34 earmarked for eHomeAffairs support.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber recently said this could increase to hundreds if not thousands of bank branches.

“I want every village, town, city, and suburb in South Africa to have access to Home Affairs services in a local bank branch,” said Schreiber.

“I believe this will reduce the pressure on our offices and alleviate the long queues. Not to mention greatly expanding our footprint.”

MyBroadband has repeatedly asked the participating banks for updates on expanding eHomeAffairs branches.

Several have reiterated their intentions to expand the service pending the outcome of the PPP.

In recent months, some have started referring MyBroadband to the department as the custodian of the eHomeAffairs programme.

One banking official had become irritated with criticism from South Africans for not expanding the service while the delay was being caused by the department’s slow, bureaucratic processes.

The department has not responded to MyBroadband’s queries asking why the implementation of the PPP was taking so long.