PRETORIA: South Africa is considering implementing an all-in-one identity card system that will combine all citizens’ important information – including ID, driving licence and social security – in one.

Ministers in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet have been tasked to look into the change, although the implementation is not expected anytime soon.

“When you go for Sassa, when you go for everything, you will have a single card at your disposal,” transport minister Fikile Mbalula said.

“That will help everyone, but God-willing I will no longer be minister by then.”

In the meantime, South Africa is expected to roll out a new driving licence card in the near future.

“We are 10 years behind [the rest of the world] in terms of a driver’s licence card,” Mbalula stated.

The minister initially announced that a new driver’s licence card would be launched in South Africa towards the end of 2022, targeting July for a pilot phase and October for an official launch.

“The machine that produces driver’s licences is the old machine. No other country in the world is still using that machine,” Mbalula said.

“That is why we are producing a new card.”

Mbalula said that South Africa’s new machine would be on par with the developed world.

It would feature security enhancements, allowing its use as an alternative form of identification, he said.

South Africa’s old driving licence card would be phased out over five years.

Darul Ihsan Media Desk