The Government Printing Works in South Africa is to use the Datacard MX series card issuance and delivery products, pictured, for its new smart ID cards.
Replacing their current green bar-coded paper ID books, South Africans will be able to receive a smart ID card replacement at an initial 27 sites, ramping up to more sites to issue 38 million smart ID cards over several years. The ID cards offer more security features than the previous paper documents, and will feature a dual-interface chip, and fingerprint biometrics and biographic data – making it difficult for forgers, the makers say. South African citizens will also receive their new card in five to ten days, compared to the 47 days it took for the paper documents.
The microchip in the smart ID card will also enable the card to be used to access other government services such as electronic health records.
Datacard Group worked with Altech Card Solutions in South Africa on this project, to meet the South African government’s specifications for security features
Jim Runcie, regional vice president, EMEA region, for Datacard Group, said: “We are very happy that the South African government chose Datacard Group’s central issuance solutions
Datacard adds that its software, supplies and services have been used in more than 400 government programmes in 100 countries.
