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The rollout for banks managing and issuing Smart IDs and passports has gone slowly, with branches offering this service located primarily in the country’s major metros.
The subject of renewal is close to this writer’s heart, having recently embarked on a quest to procure passports for my family of four. Our prized travel documents were destroyed when our house was razed during the Knysna wildfires of 2017.
Given Covid travel restrictions, and the fact that replacing lost or damaged passports are charged at double the fee, four years had lapsed since the lot was reduced to ashes.
With plans in the pipeline for a cross-border excursion at the end of 2021, obtaining vital travel passes became a matter of urgency.
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Let the games begin
As new arrivals in the Southern Cape capital, a quick reconnaissance of queues outside the George Department of Home Affairs (DHA) had parents and tech-fundi teens storming back to home-computer screens, quickly finding the correct platform to set electronic renewal in motion.
As state websites go, the ease of use and comprehensive information at dha.gov.za were highly appreciated. But once registered, the prospect of heading back to the multitude of shivering folk lining up in George CBD was less than enticing.
Banks: Yay! Nearest branch: Doh…
We were relieved to learn that several banks had joined forces with national DHA powers to facilitate the issuing of passports and Smart Identity cards. The pilot programme was launched in September 2017, when ABSA, Nedbank, FNB and Standard Bank partnered with the DHA.
Initially, only participating bank employees could obtain new IDs inside the branches; then, these services were opened to bank customers. The next phase was testing the Smart ID application process via the e-channel portal.
This process remains in place today, with a refreshing absence of printed paper, and application forms being processed on the spot. The DHA sends an SMS to notify you when documents are ready for collection.
Although FNB at the time said it would roll out this application service “at branches nationwide in coming months”, today only a handful (four in Gauteng, and one each in Cape Town, Limpopo, and KZN) deliver the service.
‘But,’ says FNB Point of Presence CEO, Lee-Anne van Zyl, ‘we remain committed to our partnership with the DHA and our ambition to expand this service nationally for all customers at no additional cost.’
Meanwhile, Standard Bank boasts eight branches (Gauteng four, Cape Town two, one each in the Eastern Cape and KZN); ABSA five (Gauteng four, E-Cape one); and Nedbank five (Gauteng three, one each in Mpumalanga and Cape Town) offering this service.
Latest to join the ranks of those facilitating the collection of Smart IDs and passports are the Sandton branches of Discovery Bank and Bidvest. However, this still leaves most citizens to brave those intimidating queues at DHA offices countrywide.
Online the best line
Weeks of prodding various DHA spokespeople for information or the project’s success and future yielded no further insights, confirming our suspicions that all correspondence and bookings are best done through the website.
If you live in one of the centres where branches are located, be sure to benefit from this service. The rest of us can at least take comfort in the fact that the process of registering for travel or ID documents is substantially ameliorated by the department’s online portal, where costs and timeframes et all are elucidated at length.
Need-to-knows
There are different identity documents for different people and purposes. Whether you apply at your nearest DHA office or fill in the DHA-73 form online, you will still need to visit the DHA to capture your biometric info.
No walk-ins are allowed at banks. You can only visit a participating branch once you have made an online application and booked your visit.
