The Department of Home Affairs has summoned people who currently have blocked identity numbers in their possession, to give reasons and representations within 30 days why their IDs should not be blocked.

The department will also be proceeding with a supported social media advertising campaign to allow the public to make representations.

For several reasons, as far back as 2005, some identity numbers were blocked. This includes the flagging by the biometric system of duplicates in possession of illegal immigrants, or because the holder of an identity number has passed away.

Home Affairs aims to resolve the decade-old issue of wrongfully blocked identity numbers and implement the reduction of the number of fraudulent documents in circulation.

By presenting the public with an opportunity to make representations, the department aims to end the inconvenience caused by the act of blocking holders of legitimate identity numbers, while cancelling identity numbers held by unauthorised persons.

The publication of these proceedings is an act of compliance with a court order issued earlier this year, which tasked the department to have a fair administrative process to differentiate between identity numbers that have been wrongfully blocked and identity numbers that represent genuine security threats.

“I encourage members of the public to make use of this opportunity to ensure that we conduct a just and equitable process to unblock identity numbers that have been wrongfully blocked,” minister Leon Schreiber said.

Compiled by Phalimo Moeketsi