The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

Joe Mcgluwa, ID spokesperson for Home Affairs has slammed the Department, saying he is ‘shocked' over the news that half a million uncollected Identity Documents will soon be destroyed.

Out of a total of 524 618 IDs earmarked for destruction around the country, 111 395 are in KZN, 92 410 are in Gauteng and 89 284 in the Eastern Cape.

‘To the ID this is not just a waste, it is a disgrace. If the public is coming forward to apply for IDs and then failing to collect them, then something is seriously wrong with the system,' Mr Mcgluwa says.

‘It is clear the system whereby the Department sends applicants an sms once their ID is complete, is not working. The obvious question now is - what back-up measures are in place to alert South Africans that over half a million of them have not collected, or received their ID books?' Mr Mcgluwa says.

‘The ID would like to call on the Department to immediately delay the destruction of these ID books and extend its advertising campaign across SABC stations, especially SABC 1 prime time, like during Generations' commercial breaks, when millions of our people across the country are glued to the screen.

‘The Department must move quickly because provinces like KZN, which is leading in terms of numbers of IDs destined for destruction, are also the provinces where suicide has resulted because of the corrupt and uncaring work of some officials,' says Mcgluwa.

The ID MP says he will submit a parliamentary question, for written response, to Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma enquiring how much it cost the Department to print the IDs and how much it will cost to destroy them.

Mcgluwa has also repeatedly raised concerns about the ongoing delays in the Smart Card process, which will eventually replace the Identity Document.

‘The forensic audit into the Smart Card is taking forever. Is there a massive cover-up underway, is massive corruption gradually being uncovered, or is it just incompetence that has led to this forensic report dragging on for over a year now?' Mcgluwa asks.

The Portfolio Committee for Home Affairs, of which Mcgluwa is a member, is meeting with Sita tomorrow at 10H00 so that Sita can explain the reasons for the delay in the issue of the Smart Card.

‘I hope Sita will turn up because the Committee is going to make them answer some questions,' says Mcgluwa.