Late last year, we began to hear a couple of rumours speculating that the green SA ID book would no longer be accepted in the near future. These rumours were later confirmed as a hoax . 

So, the green SA ID book will still be accepted, at least for the time being, but the new ID Smart Card is the updated version, and it will eventually replace the book entirely. This isn't a bad thing. The ID Smart Card is neater, cleaner and easier to keep in your wallet - and if you happen to forget it in your jeans pocket on laundry day, it's no great catastrophe. 

The only downside to all of this is, of course, having to put up with Home Affairs. Frequently faced with system failures, power cuts, Telkom problems, equipment theft, long queues and just a general air of incomptenence, Home Affairs is the last thing any South African wants to deal with.

Luckily, the Department of Home Affairs has released a list of local banks where the public can apply for these cards. 

In order to combat identity fraud, the Department Of Home Affairs will eventually begin to phase out the green barcoded ID book when they have the Live Capture Systems in place to do so. There are currently 187 offices nationwide which offer this service. 

The Smart ID Card is available now, though, and has in fact been around since July 2013. It's an impressive system. This credit card sized identification card has security features comparable to that of IDs in Europe and America, if not better. In fact, there are more security features in the printing on the card than in our own bank notes.

The data in the chip is secured using a mixture of public and symmetric-key cryptography. Other safety features include:  

• Holograms, laser engraving, designs invisible without UV light and personal details which provide visual verification of the card; 
• Fingerprint bio-metrics and biographic data is embedded on the 80 kilobytes card chip; 
• The card has been made for two types of names. Type A is for people with regular names and surnames while Type B is for people with longer length names and surnames. 

Applying for a Smart ID Card is now a whole lot easier, thanks to the banks which have agreed to participate and take applications for new identification cards. Alternatively, members of the public can brave one of the 187 department branches. 

The aim is to alleviate the long, excruciating, soul-destroying, meaningless queues at the Home Affairs branches. So! You can now apply for both your ID and your passport at the bank. 

Local banks Nedbank, Standard Bank, First National Bank and ABSA have partnered with the department to provide us with this service. So, we put together an updated list of the current branches that are participating.

Bear in mind that the information below was sourced from the Home Affairs website, and given that they can't even get the addresses or spelling of the branches correct, the information should under no circumstances be deemed as accurate or helpful in any way, shape or form. 

We did, however, follow up with the banks and other sources as best we could to get the information as precise as possible. 

1. ABSA - CENTURION LIFESTYLE CENTRE

Centurion

Address: C/O Lenchen & Old Johannesburg Road, Centurion Lifestyle Centre

2. ABSA - TOWERS NORTH

Johannesburg

Address: 180 Commissioner Street, Johannesburg 

1. FNB - CENTURION LIFESTYLE CENTRE

Centurion

Address: C/O Lenchen & Old Johannesburg Road, Centurion Lifestyle Centre

2. FNB - LYNWOOD

Pretoria

Address: C/O Simon Vermooten & Lynnwood Road, Grove Shopping Mall, Shop U20 

3. FNB - MERCHANT PLACE

Johannesburg

Address: C/O Rivionia & Feedman Drive, 4 Merchant Place, Sandton

1. NEDBANK - ARCADIA 

Pretoria 

Address: C/O Steve Biko & Madiba Street, Arcadia 

2. NEDBANK - CONSTANTIA KLOOF  

Johannesburg 

Address: 18 Constantia Boulevard, Constantia Kloof, Roodepoort 

3. NEDBANK - RIVONIA

Johannesburg 

Address: 135 Rivonia Road, Sandton  

1. STANDARD BANK - CENTURION

Centurion

Address: Standard Bank Building, 1263 Embankment Road

2. STANDARD BANK - KILLARNEY MALL

Johannesburg

Address: C/O Riviera Road and Killarney Ave, Killarney Mall

3. STANDARD BANK - SIMMONDS STREET

Johannesburg

Address: 5 Simmonds St, Selby, Johannesburg

4. STANDARD BANK - CANAL WALK

Cape Town

Address: Century City Drive, Shop 599LL, Canal Walk Shopping Centre, Century City