Question NW3866 to the Minister of Home Affairs
11 November 2015 - NW3866
Hoosen, Mr MH to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
(1)What is the total number of cases of duplicate identity documents (IDs) that were reported in (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013, (d) 2014 and (e) since 1 January 2015; (2) how many of the specified cases have been resolved; (3) (a) how many cases are still pending resolution and (b) what is the cause of the delays in resolving these cases; (4) what (a) reason(s) has his department identified in respect of the duplication of IDs that are issued and (b) measures are being implemented by his department to prevent this from happening in the future?
Reply:
(1) There are two categories of duplicate cases, namely where one person
has multiple identity numbers and multiple persons sharing one identity
number.
(1)(a) The total number of cases that were reported in 2011 in each category
were ( opening balances ):
- one person with multiple identity numbers : 460 000
- multiple persons sharing one identity number : 49 233
(1)(b) The total number of cases that were reported in 2012 in each category
were ( opening balances ):
- one person with multiple identity numbers : 100 701
- multiple persons sharing one identity number : 38 318
(1)(c) The total number of cases that were reported in 2013 in each category
were ( opening balances ):
- one person with multiple identity numbers : 65 523
- multiple persons sharing one identity number : 27 639
(1)(d) The total number of cases that were reported in 2014 in each category
were ( opening balances ):
- one person with multiple identity numbers : 13 349
- multiple persons sharing one identity number : 12 420
(1)(e) The total number of cases that were reported since 1 January 2015 to
date in each category were ( opening balances ):
- one person with multiple identity numbers : 3 609
- multiple persons sharing one identity number : 9 908
(2) The total number of the specified cases which have been resolved in
each category are as follows :-
one person with multiple identity numbers : 558 853
multiple persons sharing one identity number : 40 494
(3)(a) The number of cases which are still pending resolution in each
category are:
- one person with multiple identity numbers : 12 464
- multiple persons sharing one identity number : 8 739
(3)(b) The causes of delays in resolving cases are:
- Clients not lodging applications in offices.
- Delays by clients in submitting the required supporting documents;
- Non-submission of supporting documents in cases of identity numbers that were acquired fraudulently ;
- Complexity of cases results in time-consuming investigations.
(4)(a) The reasons identified for the duplication of identity numbers have
been identified as:
- Mis-identification of fingerprints during the previous manual verification process;
- The swapping of fingerprints;
- The theft of birth certificates for children who have not yet applied for an identity document.
(4)(b) The measures put in place by the Department to prevent the
duplication of identity numbers in the future are:
- The introduction of HANIS (Home Affairs National Information System) in 2007 to digitise all good quality manual fingerprint records;
- The introduction of the live capture system where clients’ fingerprints are captured live ;
- The introduction of unabridged birth certificates where both parents are linked;
- Registration of birth at an early stage i.e. within 30 Days.