South Africans can ease the process of getting a Smart ID card or passport by applying for it at one of 26 bank branches across the country. The plastic Smart ID is replacing the conventional paper ID booklet and offers several technological advantages over its predecessor.
This includes built-in public key infrastructure (PKI), as well as the on-chip storage of biometric data, which means fingerprints can be matched to the card offline.
This has various uses – including to unlock a digital certificate (also secured on the card) – which may be used to digitally sign transactions.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has collaborated with several of South Africa’s major banks in order to speed up the rollout of these Smart IDs.
The added benefit is that those interested in getting a Smart ID card or passport can avoid the infamously long queues at DHA offices, which have to deal with a wide variety of other services in addition to ID and passport applications.
While applications for and collections of IDs and passports have been suspended as part of lockdown measures, there have been calls to reinstate the service from several organisations – including the Democratic Alliance.
Advocates for the reopening of the service argue that it carries a low risk of contact between persons, mainly because a large part of the process is completed online. In broad terms, the process includes the following three steps:
Fill out an online application form on the eHome DHA portal.
Visit the particular bank branch for biometrics and photos.
Collect the Smart ID card or passport after 14 working days or when notified that it is ready.
Confirmed branches
All of the country’s biggest banks – with the exception of Capitec – offer this service at a number of their branches.
| Branch | City | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Absa | ||
| Absa Centurion Lifestyle Centre | Centurion | Centurion Lifestyle Centre, c/o Old Johannesburg Road & Lenchen Ave |
| Absa Sandton City | Johannesburg | Cnr Rivonia Road and 5th Street, Sandton |
| Absa Towers | Johannesburg | 160 Main Street, Johannesburg |
| Absa Greenacres | Port Elizabeth | Greenacres Shopping Centre, 1 Ring Rd |
| Absa Key West | Krugersdorp | Shop 80, Key West Shopping Centre, c/o Paardekraal Drive and Viljoen Street |
| Discovery Bank | ||
| Discovery Bank Sandton | Johannesburg | 1 Discovery Place, c/o Rivonia Road & Katherine Street, Sandton |
| FNB | ||
| FNB Burgersfort | Burgersfort | Dirk Winterbach Street, Burgersfort, Limpopo |
| FNB Centurion Lifestyle | Centurion | Centurion Lifestyle Centre, c/o Old Johannesburg Road & Lenchen Ave |
| FNB Lynnwood | Pretoria | Shop 4, upper level, Cnr Simon Vermooten & Lynnwood Road, Equestria |
| FNB Merchant Place | Johannesburg | 4 Merchant Place, Cnr Rivonia Road and Fredman Drive |
| FNB Portside | Cape Town | Portside, 5 Buitengracht St |
| Investec Bank | ||
| Investec Bank Sandton | Johannesburg | 100 Grayston Drive, Sandown |
| Nedbank | ||
| Nedbank Arcadia | Pretoria | C/o Steve Biko and Madiba Street |
| Nedbank Sandown | Johannesburg | 135 Rivonia Road |
| Nedbank Lakeview Campus | Johannesburg | 18 Constantia Boulevard |
| Nedbank St. George’s Mall | Cape Town | C/o Waterkant Road and St. George’s Mall |
| Nedbank The Crossing | Nelspruit | C/o Madiba & Samora Machel Drives, Nelspruit |
| Standard Bank | ||
| Standard Bank Centurion | Centurion | C/o Hendrick Verwoerd and South Street |
| Standard Bank Killarney, Rosebank | Johannesburg | Killarney Mall, 60 Riviera Road |
| Standard Bank Simmonds | Johannesburg | 5 Simmonds Street |
| Standard Bank Canal Walk | Cape Town | Shop 599LL, Canal Walk Shopping Centre, Century City Dr |
| Standard Bank Jubilee Mall | Hammanskraal | C/o Jubilee Road D154 and Harry Gwala Road D2757 |
| Standard Bank Kathu | Kathu | Hendrik Van Eck Street, Shop 62, Village Walk Shopping Centre |
| Standard Bank Kingsmead | Durban | 1 Standard Bank Centre, Kingsmead Way, Stamford Hill |
| Standard Bank Port Elizabeth | Port Elizabeth | 1 Pickering Street, Newton Park |
| Standard Bank Promenade Mall | Cape Town | C/o AZ Berman Road And Morgenster Road, Shop 73-75 Liberty Promenade |
While Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank have had multiple branches supporting this service for several years, Discovery Bank and Investec Bank now also have one branch each.
The table below shows all of the bank branches where you will be able to apply for and collect a Smart ID or passport once the lockdown ban on the service is lifted.
Highly popular service
MyBroadband asked the involved banks how their customers have responded to the service, and if they were planning to add any more branches to offer it in the year ahead.
FNB Points of Presence CEO Lee-Anne van Zyl said that the service reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to add meaningful value to the lives of its customers.
“To date, we have issued over 251,000 Smart ID cards and passports to our retail and commercial customers since the inception of the partnership with DHA,” Van Zyl said.
Van Zyl said that three additional FNB branches were in the pipeline to offer the service during the course of 2021.
“We are currently in the processes of finalising the rollout plan with Home Affairs,” she stated.
Nedbank has also described the process as “extremely popular” and said that uptake continued to grow amongst its clients.
“Based on the feedback received, clients have expressed their excitement and are very positive, particularly regarding the convenience of the service,” Nedbank said.
The bank said two more pilot sites will be launched in 2021, while additional locations will be dependent on the DHA finalising and signing contracts with participating banks.
Upcoming branches
The table below shows the branches where Smart ID and passport services are set to be rolled out.
The Absa branches shown were previously scheduled to go online in 2020, but the bank has not provided an update on their status. The three FNB and two Nedbank branches are set to be rolled out in 2021
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Source: mybroadband
