With the Department of Home Affairs encouraging South Africans to make an effort to swap their green identity document (ID) booklets for the newer smart card IDs, Tito Mboweni has hinted that he is quite fine making use of the booklet.
In a recent tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter), the former minister reposted an article from EyeWitness News (EWN) which urged South Africans to switch to smart IDs.
Responding to the article, he wrote: “What smart card? There is no such, please. That ID card is not a smart card.”
What smart card? There is no such please. That ID card is not a smart card. pic.twitter.com/zHEGnTzxQP
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) August 19, 2024
The department’s plea comes in the wake of the recent controversy surrounding Miss SA contestant, Chidimma Adesthina, whose mother is alleged to have committed fraud by stealing the identity of a South African woman to access “citizenship.”
As a result, the victim, a South African woman was unable to get her child into school.
Home Affairs meanwhile wants to avoid similar incidents from happening and prevent someone else from falling victim to identity theft.
In a recent post, the newly elected Minister of the Department of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber highlighted the importance of embracing the smart IDs.
“Research suggests that SA’s green ID book is the most defrauded in Africa, with identity theft costing our country north of R1.5 billion per year.”
“If you want to fight fraud and corruption while protecting your family, switch to a smart ID before criminals steal your life,” he wrote.
Others have meanwhile questioned Tito on why he never refused the smart ID while he was a minister.
“What are you saying”⁉️ You were part of government when they introduce it ??? pic.twitter.com/v65jNMRte3
— XekiHlōngwane (@XekiHlungwane) August 19, 2024
Also see: Department of Home Affairs issues progress report on identity fraud case linked to Chidimma’s mother
