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South African Home Affairs enters the future with a new biometric identification system

Source: IT News, 18/05/2018

On Wednesday, May 16, South Africaâ€™s Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi
Gigaba, launched a new automated biometric identification system that
will offer a single source for biometric authentication for citizens.
This is new identification system forms an integral part of the
Departmentâ€™s Modernisation Programme.
This Automated Biometric Identification System, or ABIS, is an
identification system which will also act as a security solution, and
will replace the outdated and manually operated Home Affairs National
Identity System, the idea being to merge the two into an automated
system through ABIS with the capability to identify and verify people
through fingerprints, facial recognition and iris technology. However,
the systemâ€™s iris and palm print recognition capabilities are only
scheduled to come online by 2019/20.
ABIS forms a fundamental baseline for the broader National
Identification System, which will encompass the data of both South
Africans and foreign nationals in a single data base.
At the launch of this new system at the Taj Hotel in Cape Town on
Wednesday, the Minister Gigaba said that the system will drastically
change the manner in which South Africans are identified and will form
the backbone of how the public and private sectors will manage the
authentication of their clients.

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