The Department of Home Affairs has announced that, within the space of one month, its officials have managed to fully clear the backlog of Identity Documents (IDs) that started to accumulate in November 2023.

This backlog was caused by a change in IT service providers, which created a bottleneck in multiple areas in the production value chain. The faults ranged from the office of application to application authentication to printing, and the final issuing of the ID. These system issues resulted in nearly a quarter of a million applications becoming “stuck” in a growing backlog.

According to the department, Home Affairs started its work on clearing these unissued ID’s on 21 August 2024. Officials consolidated 247,500 “stuck” IDs into a single database in order to systematically clear the backlog.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber has lauded officials who have worked tirelessly to ensure that applications are processed in order for IDs to reach clients who were waiting to gain access to their documentation.

“This achievement, alongside our progress in reducing the visa backlog, reforming regulations to attract tourism, skills and investment, as well as the important initial steps we are taking towards digital transformation, should lead to growing confidence in our ability to drive the reforms required for Home Affairs to deliver dignity to all.”

Schreiber added that the clearing of the backlog also signifies the department’s commitment to turn Home Affairs into an economic enabler, as those affected by the backlog can now seek employment, open accounts, and gain access to social grants.

“We still have much more to do. Our apex priority is the wholesale digital transformation of Home Affairs to create a new system where South Africans should be able to submit ID and other applications from the comfort of their own home through a digital platform, followed by the delivery of these documents to their doorstep.”

Home Affairs open on Saturdays this October

The Department of Home Affairs has also extended its office hours on every Saturday until 12 October to enable clients to collect their IDs and other civic documentation.

On the 21st of September, more than 9,200 people took advantage of this opportunity by visiting Home Affairs offices between 08:00 to 13:00.

Following the clearance of the backlog, residents, especially scholars and matriculants, who have applied for IDs and have received SMS notifications, are encouraged to seize this opportunity to collect their documents.

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