PRETORIA, South Africa- The Department of Home Affairs in South Africa has pledged to speed up efforts to unblock 300,000 remaining identity documents (IDs), following growing public pressure and legal scrutiny.
Deputy Director-General Thomas Sigama made the commitment on Monday while addressing demonstrators gathered outside the department’s head office in Pretoria. The protest was organised by the civil movement Soil of Africa, which has repeatedly accused the government of mishandling the issue of blocked IDs.
The department initially blocked around two million IDs after they were flagged for suspected fraud. However, human rights lawyers successfully challenged this practice in court, arguing that officials failed to follow due process. In January last year, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Home Affairs must review the affected cases and give citizens a fair opportunity to contest the blocks.
Sigama told the crowd that significant progress had been made since the ruling. “We are pleased to announce that more than 2.1 million blocked IDs have already been unblocked,” he said. “From Tuesday, we will focus on resolving the remaining 300,000 cases as swiftly as possible.”
The problem of blocked IDs dates back to 2005, stemming from errors in the National Population Register. Critics say these administrative mistakes have had devastating consequences, preventing thousands of citizens from accessing essential services, jobs, or even voting.
Soil of Africa previously handed a memorandum of demands to the department, but claims it received no response, prompting renewed protests. Activists say they will continue to monitor the government’s actions closely to ensure that the remaining blocked IDs are resolved within the court-mandated timeframe.
The department has two years, from the date of the court order, to finalise the process.
