HOME AFFAIRS COMBATS ID THEFT

Well that didn't take too long did it. Now we have to get 'smart cards'. I wonder how long they will last before we have to try something new again - for me, this is just a money making racket!

Home affairs combats ID theft

Mbulelo Baloyi

December 16 2006 at 12:47PM

Home affairs officials say they have tightened up internal security to prevent syndicates taking advantage of thousands of applications for birth certificates at this time of the year. Home affairs spokesperson Jacky Mashapu said many parents apply for late registration of births of their children ahead of the new school year and that they were looking out for possible scams involving corrupt employees who fraudulently slip in illegal birth registrations for foreigners in the avalanche of late, but legal, registrations.

Once people have illegally accessed a birth certificate the way is open for them to access a range of social services, including the "much coveted" South African citizenship.

He said any person applying for late registration of birth had to undergo a rigorous and thorough process to prove his or her bona fides as a South African citizen.

Birth certificate are sought-after documents as it opened many avenues "This includes that person submitting an affidavit from the school where he or she first attended school and a supporting affidavit from those who know her or him. "He said the birth certificate was the sought-after document as it opened many avenues, such as applying for an Identity Document, passport, child-support grant, bank accounts and other social services. Mashapu said the process for applying for a late registration birth was very thorough when compared to that of applying for an ID or passport. Recently Home Affairs Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba revealed that more than 160 department officials had been dismissed after being found guilty of corruption. Gigaba also said there were more than 600 cases being investigated by the department's counter-corruption unit. In addition, 200 employees were currently facing disciplinary action for misconduct ranging from the fraudulent issuing of IDs and birth certificates to the illegal issuing of work permits.

Earlier this year it had been reported that criminals were fleecing the South African economy of billions of rands through theft of identity. "Thefts through the use of the bar-coded identity document are causing many problems and something has to be done quickly," said Pat Cunningham of South African Fraud Prevention Services. Cunningham said the organisation had a list of 45 000 names on its database of people who had committed fraud by using identity documents that did not belong to them. The database, which is shared among several industry players, helped to prevent fraud of a possible R400 million last year. "All major banks, furniture and supermarket retailers, micro lenders and motor finance corporations linked to our organisation reported a huge increase in fraud." Cunningham said fraud through improper use of identity documents went up by 29% last year to an estimated R40-billion. Delegates at a conference hosted by PriceWaterhouse-Coopers in Sandton were told that white-collar crime was costing the economy an estimated R80 billion, with more than 40 000 cases a year reported. Green ID books with a barcode are already commonly used.

The book contains a photograph and fingerprint of the holder, but the photograph can easily be replaced. The government plans to replace the green book with a barcode on a credit card-style ID with personal details stored on a microchip. Although the government originally considered issuing the smartcards for free and charging for subsequent replacements, it will charge about R120 a person during the R1,5-billion roll-out expected to occur over five years. The smartcard will also replace the old reference books and blue pass books which, although accepted as ID by some financial institutions, do not allow the bearer to vote.