South Africans are getting “smarter” Smart ID cards to strengthen their fight against passport fraud, which has haunted the country since 2022.
“Lebogang Ndlovu from Bangladesh” is an inside joke for the scam that rocked South Africa in 2022. A Pakistani citizen, Arfan Ahmed, was caught issuing fake South African passports to Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens to travel to South Africa. Corrupt officials in the government arranged for South African locals to sell their identities to these foreigners. The crackdown led to the arrest of the culprits and the sacking of 12 government agents.
The case resurfaced again in June last month after Ahmed was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for allegedly bribing government officials.
Now, passports are getting smarter: Following the development, newly appointed Democratic Alliance (DA) Home Affairs minister, Leon Schreiber, says South African smart IDs and passports will be encrypted with additional security features to prevent identity theft and ensure the biometric data and photograph of the passport handler match.
In his address, Schreiber said, “Both the passport and smart ID card will be refreshed and updated in order to enhance the security features of these documents, with the aim of building trust in more countries and organisations worldwide.”
Smart IDs were introduced in 2013 to replace the old green ID books. But it seems the development has only compounded the woes of South Africans. The country could learn a thing or two from Ethiopia’s Fayda ID, which hasn’t reported a passport fraud case since 2016.
