Pretoria - Cabinet has applauded Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on the pilot implementation of smart ID cards.
"A Smart ID Card with a contactless chip, based on international trends and standards, is the most viable solution and will meet the medium-to-long-term vision of the Department of Home Affairs and the security needs of South Africa," Cabinet said.
The green bar-coded identity book will be replaced with a Smart ID card in a phased-in approach.
The department is to issue 2000 smart ID cards - to South Africans of all races and gender, with the possible involvement of stalwarts who have been involved in the struggle against the pass laws -during the project's pilot phase.
The pilot project will enable the department to test its hardware and software capability to produce the card as well as the participation of other government departments and agencies.
The durability of the smart card will be tested, as well as whether the memory on the card's chip - where the information will be stored - was adequate.
Once all the necessary systems are ready to produce smart cards, all ID applications from that point onwards will be treated as applications for smart cards, the department has said.
