Staff Reporter.
The Department of Home Affairs will expand its partnership with banks to offer additonal services at branches across the country next year, says minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
Answering a recent parliamentary Q&A session, Motsoaledi said the department’s partnership with banks is being piloted and operated at 25 bank branches. “The intention is to increase the number of the sites to 70 once the Public-Private-Partnership Agreements are signed with the banks,” he said.
He added that the government plans to roll out these services on or around 1 July 2022, once the following issues have been resolved:
- The mechanism for the payment and collection of the convenience fee paid by clients using the facilities; and
- The connectivity relating to the system uptime and downtime in line with standard norms.
The department, the banks and the State Information Technology Agency are working continuously to resolve these issues, Motsoaledi said.
Home Affairs initially introduced its banking pilot to assist with the reduction of long queues at DHA offices, to expand the service platforms, and to allow citizens to apply for Smart ID cards and passports online.
Applicants are only required to visit the bank branch to complete biometric requirements, thereby reducing the time spent in the bank or Home Affairs office.
All of the country’s biggest banks – with the exception of Capitec – offer the E-Home Affairs service at a handful of their branches.
Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank have had multiple branches supporting the service for several years. Discovery Bank and Investec Bank recently started participating in the programme with one branch each.
Meanwhile Motsoaledi said that system downtime upgrade project is still ongoing, and due to fiscal constraints, the project’s completion date might be stretched to the end of the 2024/25 financial year.