Massive news: #TeamHomeAffairs is proud to announce Capitec and FNB as the first banks signed up to our new digital partnership model that will expand access to Smart ID and Passport services to 100s more bank branches across urban and rural areas - and to banking apps! 🇿🇦 On 30 April 2025, the DG of Home Affairs wrote to the CEOs of ABSA, African Bank, TymeBank, Capitec, Discovery Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank, inviting them to join this transformative, digital-first new phase of the Department’s existing collaboration with the banking sector, which dates back more than a decade and has, until now, seen the successful delivery of Smart ID and Passport services at only 30 branches across 5 different banks. However, that old model relied on the costly duplication of Home Affairs staff and hardware inside bank branches, and failed to take advantage of technology to dramatically expand services into all rural and urban areas where bank branches already exist - and onto banking apps. Thanks to our commitment to digital transformation, Home Affairs is now digitalising this long-standing partnership after Capitec and FNB became the first banks to respond positively to our invitation. I reiterate the call for all other banks to similarly accept our invitation to work together to provide Smart ID and Passport services in their branches and on their digital apps. More details will be announced when I visit both partners this week, but it is safe to say that this marks the beginning of the end for Home Affairs queues, and the start of a new digital-first era in public service delivery. Cabinet’s Medium-Term Development Plan tasks us with expanding this service to 1 000 bank branches, and we are well on our way to meeting that commitment. Many more bank branches + banking apps = huge step towards fulfilling our pledge to use technology to deliver 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 @ 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞!