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Offices with the most uncollected IDs include Johannesburg, Akasia, Cape Town and Gqeberha.
The Home Affairs Department says it will declare the green identity documents invalid from the end of this year.
It says it’s trying to eliminate the risk of corruption and fraud, including identity theft.
The department wants all South Africans to replace their green ID books with smart cards which are more secure.
The department’s Deputy Minister Njabulo Nzuza says this is the programme that started in 2013 because the smart-coded ID is more secure than the green bar-coded ID.
“The green bar-coded ID is subject to identity theft and also credit fraud which we have seen being prevalent. It can also be a source of duplicate cases and that is why we are asking everyone who is on the green-barcoded ID to move to a smart ID card. Very soon before the end of the year, we anticipate that we will have stopped issuing out green bar-coded IDs.”
