The home affairs department has warned nearly 700,000 people that their IDs may be cancelled and that they have 30 days to explain why they should remain valid.
The department is cracking down on fraud related to identity books and cards. Through a government gazette, the department requested individuals with blocked IDs to provide written reasons within 30 days as to why their IDs should not be cancelled.
“I encourage members of the public to make use of this opportunity to ensure that we conduct a just and equitable process to unblock IDs that have been wrongfully blocked,” said home affairs minister Leon Schreiber.
“At the same time, the gazetting of these decisive measures underscores our commitment to clamp down on fraud, and to move with urgency to resolve long-standing challenges while upholding the rule of law.”
The gazetting of this measure is also in line with a court order from earlier this year, which directed the department to implement a fair administrative process to separate IDs that were wrongly blocked from those that present security threats.
“Through this move, home affairs aims to both resolve the decades-old issue of wrongfully blocked IDs while reducing the number of fraudulent documents in circulation,” the department said in a statement.
“Some of the IDs were originally blocked as far back as 2005 for a range of reasons, including because the biometric system flagged the documents as duplicates, held by illegal immigrants, or because the ID holder had passed away.”
By allowing the public to make representations, the department aims to resolve the inconvenience for legitimate ID holders affected by the block, while also cancelling IDs held by unauthorised individuals.
The department is battling corruption within its system and Schreiber has voiced his commitment to crack down on officials and foreign nationals involved in fraud syndicates.
Last week, he pledged that the department would clear a backlog of more than 300,000 visa applications by Christmas.
During a meeting with business stakeholders, he highlighted clearing the backlog as a priority. He said addressing the issue was crucial for stimulating economic activity. The process would be used as a test to determine effective solutions and identify areas that needed improvement as he worked on reforming the department.
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