Passports go hi-tech in bid to fight crime

THE Department of Home Affairs is phasing out manual passports in a bid to stamp out crime and corruption.

This week‚ 15 unused‚ legitimate South African passports were seized from an al-Shabaab courier in Tanzania.

The passports bore the photographs of people on the country’s watch list and one bore a striking resemblance to the “white widow” Samantha Lewthwaite.

Home Affairs Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize announced in her department’s budget speech that manually processed passports will no longer be issued.

People will now have to apply for their passports at one of South Africa’s 179 live capture sites where photographs and fingerprints are digitally recorded.

Questioned about the Tanzanian passports at a media briefing earlier in the day‚ Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni said smart card IDs and passports had been introduced to phase out fraudulent passport use but, until now‚ manual and digital processes had been running alongside each other.

This system where fingerprints were taken on paper and “the photo is taken under a tree somewhere” created a gap where fraud could be committed.

Mkhize said the department was strengthening its fight against crime.

“IDs‚ passports and birth certificates have high value and the department is under constant attack by criminal syndicates‚” she said.