The Department of Home Affairs has set a new national record, issuing over 4 million Smart ID cards in 2025, the highest number ever delivered in a single year. The milestone represents a 17% increase on the 3,427,468 Smart IDs issued in 2024, which itself was a record at the time. In total, the 2025 performance is about 1.3 million more than the combined total issued during the 2023 and 2022 calendar years.
Carli Van Wyk, spokesperson for Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber, described the achievement as a historic milestone in the department’s drive to deliver Home Affairs @ Home through digital transformation. “This record rollout is the result of the Government of National Unity’s focused investment in technology upgrades and improved efficiencies at both the Department of Home Affairs and the Government Printing Works, which produces the Smart IDs. “A key improvement has been the repair of the Online Verification Service, which was previously underfunded and misused.
These upgrades have increased system reliability and performance at Home Affairs offices, allowing more South Africans than ever to access Smart IDs quickly and securely,” she said. Van Wyk added that the accelerated rollout is a cornerstone of the department’s Medium-Term Development Plan, noting that the green bar-coded ID book, which the Smart ID replaces, has become highly vulnerable to fraud, estimated to be 500% more at risk than the Smart ID. She also revealed that the department is in the final stages of a digital partnership with South Africa’s banking sector, which will allow citizens to obtain Smart IDs at hundreds of bank branches nationwide, closer to their communities.
