Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber clamps down ID fraud in new gazette

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has announced that the department will be implementing new measures to combat identity fraud.

Schreiber made the announcement on Friday in a statement.

He said the departments will be tackling identity fraud by cancelling duplicate IDs which are usually held by illegal immigrants and resolving the issue of wrongfully blocked IDs.

“Some of the blocked IDs date back as far as 2005, with reasons ranging from duplication in the biometric system to suspicions of being held by illegal immigrants or even belonging to deceased individuals.

“By providing the public with the opportunity to make representations, the department intends to end the inconvenience caused by the block to holders of legitimate IDs, while cancelling IDs held by unauthorised persons,“ he said.

Schreiber added that gazetting this measure is also in furtherance of compliance with a court order handed down earlier this year, which required the department to undertake a fair administrative process to differentiate between IDs that have been wrongfully blocked and IDs that represent genuine security threats.

He said public participation was important for this process.

“I encourage members of the public to make use of this opportunity to ensure that we conduct a just and equitable process to unblock IDs that have been wrongfully blocked.

“At the same time, the gazetting of these decisive measures underscores our commitment to clamp down on fraud, and to move with urgency to resolve long-standing challenges while upholding the rule of law,” he added.

Meanwhile, the department said individuals with blocked IDs will have to give a written statement within 30 days explaining why their IDs should not be cancelled.

The submissions should be directed to Sylvia Phasha via email at Sylvia.Phasha@dha.gov.za.

-IOL

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