Green ID books get two years as Home Affairs moves to smart cards

South Africans who still carry the green ID book have two years to move to a smart ID card. The Department of Home Affairs will no longer support the old document after that window closes, according to a report by BusinessTech.

That is a deadline where there was none before. The green book has been the default identity document for a generation of adults, and until now holding one was never a problem at a bank counter or a government window. The department has set a date, and the people who have not yet made the switch are now working against it.

The licence question is still open

The Department of Transport closed its public comment period on extending driving licence cards from five years to ten. Motorists now wait for the department to say what it will do with the submissions it received.

A ten-year card would mean fewer trips to a testing centre, shorter queues and less time taken off work for the renewals that currently come round every five years. That is the case for the change. The case against is about whether a card that lasts a decade can still carry a photograph and security features that hold up, and whether the licensing system can handle a longer cycle without losing the enforcement that comes with regular renewal.

The department has not said when it will announce the outcome.

New rules for employers who hire foreign nationals

The Employment Services Amendment Bill is now open for public comment. It would require employers to check whether the skills they need are available in South Africa before they hire a foreign national.

The bill puts the obligation on the employer, not on the worker. A company that wants to bring in someone from outside would first have to show that it looked for that skill here and could not find it. That is a change in the paperwork a business faces, and it is a change in what a hiring manager has to prove before a post is filled from abroad.

The comment period is the point at which employers, unions and ordinary workers can put their view on the record. It is open now.

SAA lease set aside

The Special Investigating Unit has won a ruling from the Special Tribunal setting aside South African Airways’ decision to extend an R85 million dry-lease agreement with Flyfofa Airways.

A dry lease is an aircraft rental in which the lessor supplies the plane and the lessee supplies the crew, the maintenance and the insurance. The tribunal has set the extension aside, which means the decision to continue that arrangement no longer stands. The SIU brought the application, and the tribunal agreed with it.

Water in Gauteng

Nico de Jager, a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, said the province’s water system is failing.

That is a claim by an opposition legislator, and it is recorded here as his position. The province’s water infrastructure, the maintenance backlog and the interruptions that households and businesses in Gauteng have lived with are matters of public record, and they are the subject of ongoing work by the municipalities and the provincial government.

What it means for the reader

The two dates that matter most to an ordinary household are the ID deadline and the licence decision. If there is a green book in a drawer at home, the clock on it is now running. If there is a driving licence card in a wallet, the answer on whether it will last five years or ten is still with the Department of Transport.

The employment bill is the one that matters at work. Employers will be watching the comment period closely, and so should anyone whose job depends on a skill that is scarce here.

Source: BusinessTech, End of an era for green ID books in South Africa, and South Africa’s 10-year driving licence in the works