The Evolution of Identity Documents in South Africa

The history of population regulation in South Africa evolved from colonial labour controls into the highly centralised bureaucracy of the apartheid era (1948-1994). This transition was marked by the passage of the Population Registration Act of 1950, which created the country’s first formal national identification system.

Please note that the terms used here to refer to classifications is as they were back then. For non–South African readers, the use of Coloured as a group here is not the same as the racial slur, here it refers to the population group known as Coloured.

One of the earliest population regulation laws in what later became South Africa was Ordinance 49 of 1828, which made African people entering the Cape Colony to seek work carry a pass as they moved within the colony. Another law passed in 1866 stipulated that any black person found outside the allowed residential area without a pass from an employer, a magistrate, a missionary, a field cornet or a chief could be arrested.

In the late 1900s, the laws regulating movement controlled black mining workers’ mobility and enforced contracts. Other than passports, South Africa lacked any kind of identification number or document prior to 1950. In 1923, the Urban Areas Act was passed, and this law prohibited black men over 16 years of age from entering urban areas. This law was later used as part of the Population Registration Act No. 30 of 1950.

In 1935 a system of continuous registration of voters and aliens, with provisions for change of address, had been introduced and cost about £35 000 a year to maintain.

The 1944 Fagan Departmental Committee recommended implementing a registration scheme for more efficient operation of social security legislation. In 1948, the four provincial governments recommended to General Jan Smuts the establishment of a national registry for all races, colours, and creeds.

The Population Registration Act of 1950

The Population Registration Act of 1950, which preceded the Group Areas Act and the Bewysburo (Bureau of Proof) required that people be identified and registered, from birth, as belonging to one of four distinct racial groups: white, Coloured, Bantu (black African), and Other. Indian was added as a racial group later. The Act was accompanied by humiliating tests which determined race through perceived linguistic and physical characteristics. People were classified according to racial groups and were expected to live in these racial categories under the Group Areas Act, 1950. By the early 1980s there were nine different racial groups in office documents. On 17 June 1991, F.W. de Klerk repealed the Population Registration Act of 1950 and race classifications.

Between 1865 and 1910, the term ‘Mixed Other’ or ‘Mixed’ was used to mean a person was not white. The term ‘Coloured’ was introduced in 1910 as a formal race classification, and about 40 ethnicities were classified as Coloured.

On 18 February 1950, the Minister of the Interior, Theophilus Ebenhaezer (Eben) Dönges, introduced a bill in the House of Assembly for the compilation of a national population register and the issuing of identity cards to people listed in it. The Population Registration Bill would provide for the compilation of a population register as soon as possible after the 1951 census. It would not include Native men and women under the age of 18 years.

The details for the register would be taken from the 1951 census returns. The register would be administered by the Office of Census and Statistics in the Department of Interior. The estimated cost of establishing the national population register, excluding Natives, would be £165 000. Maintaining the national population register would cost £80 000. Capital expenditure was expected to be at least £300,000, including fireproof housing for the register.

The population would be divided into Europeans, Coloureds and Natives. Coloureds and Natives would further be classified as ethnological groups. A European was defined as a person who, according to appearance, is obviously a European or is generally accepted as a European and who is considered European rather than Coloured, even if they appear European. A Native was defined as a member of a race indigenous to South Africa or generally accepted as such. A Coloured was defined as a person who is neither Native nor European. No specific mention was made of Asiatics, but the Governor–General was empowered to make regulations by proclamation for the classification of non–Europeans in accordance with the ethnological groups to which they belonged.

Due to diplomatic relations with Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, immigrants from these countries were regarded as honorary whites.

The names in the register would be classified according to whether the person was a South African citizen or a person who, though not a South African citizen, was admitted as a permanent resident or lived in South Africa temporarily.

When issuing identity numbers, if a person’s race could not be determined by appearance, a “pencil test” was used. A government official would push a pencil into the person’s hair. If the pencil fell out, the person was white. If it fell out with shaking, the person was Coloured, and if it stayed put, he or she was Native. Other criteria included facial features, home language and knowledge of Afrikaans or a European language, residential area, the person’s social circle, eating and drinking habits, employment and socio–economic status. Many decisions were wrong, and families were split up and evicted for living in the wrong area. Some families abandoned children with frizzy hair or children with dark skin.

The laminated green identity card (persoonskaart in Afrikaans) would be issued to all who had reached the age of 16 years. It was the first formal identification document in South Africa. The cards for European or Coloured people, other than aliens or persons temporarily in the country, would show:
– name and sex
– citizenship or nationality
– the nine–digit identity number
– a recent photo
– and the date of issue

For a Coloured person the card would also show the ethnological group. For an alien permanent resident, the card would also show the date of arrival in South Africa, an indication that he is an alien, and his signature or, if unable to sign, his fingerprints. For a person temporarily in the country, the card would show the same details as an alien’s card, except there would be no photo.

A Native person’s card would show:
– his name
– ethnological group
– if not a South African citizen, his citizenship or nationality
– his nine–digit identity number
– a recent photo
– his fingerprints
– and date of issue

An exemption from the bill was made for certain categories of people:
– persons in South Africa in service of a foreign government except individuals recruited locally
– members of land, sea or air forces of South Africa or of any other government
– and officers and men of ships and aircraft calling at South Africa’s ports

The identity number was made up of the last two digits of the person’s year of birth followed by the census district number, and then the birth registration number within that district. Initially,
race was indicated by a letter (W, C, A) but from the mid-1960s race was stamped on the cards in bright red ink.

If a person failed to produce their identity card when requested by the Director of Census and Statistics, an authorised official, or a police officer, they would have seven days to present it at the nearest police station to their residence. The applicants were responsible for paying for the photos. Applicants had to apply for registration on a prescribed form. Once on the register, everyone, except for Natives, had to inform the Director of Census and Statistics of changes in residential addresses within seven days of permanently moving from one district to another.

Anyone dissatisfied with their classification, or who objected to another person’s classification, could lodge objections in writing to the director. The Minister of the Interior appointed a board to hear appeals against the director’s decisions. The board would consist of at least three people, including a chairman who must be either a former judge of the Supreme Court or a former magistrate. The board’s decision would be binding and final for everyone, including the director. If a person was aggrieved as a result of the board’s decision, he could, within 30 days, lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court. The director was empowered to demand the return of a card with the incorrect information and issue a new card.

The Governor–General was empowered to extend the proclamation of the bill to South West Africa or to any section of the Native population to which the bill did not already apply until the whole of the Native population was registered.

The population register would initially include every person recorded in census of 08 May 1951. After that date, the register would be updated with new birth and death registrations and entry records into the country at immigration ports. Each magistrate’s office would receive a published list of the names of those registered and living in their magisterial district. Notices would be published in the Government Gazette and in at least one Afrikaans newspaper and one English newspaper in that district. Anyone whose name did not appear in the register six months after the date they took up permanent residence in a district could be prosecuted for failing to notify the director.

The identity number on the card was formatted to include:
– the last two digits of a person’s year of birth.
– the census number of the magisterial district of birth
– the registration number in the birth register for that person
– a code letter indicating race or ethnological group (W for white, C or K for Coloured, A for Asiatic)

On 09 March 1950, a second reading of the proposed bill was held, and it was referred to the Select Committee after reading. The bill had two parts: the population register and identity cards. The register would be maintained in one central location.

At the time, it was already necessary to provide a date of birth for getting married, registering for land transfers, serving in the military, and voting if you were 21 years old or older. Noting a person’s race was already required to obtain land transfers in certain areas, in accordance with the Immorality Act, the Mixed Marriages Act, and the soon–to–be–enacted Group Areas Act. Most of the vital statistics already required for the population register were already compulsory – for registering births, marriages and deaths, changing status, and changing names.

The Population Registration Act worked in conjunction with other laws passed under the apartheid system. Under the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949, it was illegal for a white person to marry someone of another race. The Immorality Amendment Act of 1950 made it a crime for a white person to have sexual relations with someone from another race, but it did happen.

At the second reading of the bill, General Jan Smuts stated in the House of Assembly that the opposition would contest every stage of the bill and clarified that the register was intended to create a nationalist register that would classify people by race, remove Coloured voters from the common roll, and further the policy of apartheid. Smuts had also previously said that race classification was “left to quite ordinary and untrained persons, who are not trained for this job to say who is a White Person, who a Coloured person, and who a Native”. The Springbok Legion, made up of World War II veterans, also protested the bill.

The 1951 census data would not be available until 1952, so identity cards would not be issued until 1953. A large fireproof building would have to be built in Pretoria. It was estimated that about 2 000 officials would be needed to initially draw up the register, and thereafter, 700 permanent officials would administer it.

The bill, as amended by the Select Committee, was published on 20 April 1950. The amendment included adding a peace officer, or any other person authorised by the director, to those who could demand to see identity cards. The exclusion of all Native males and females under the age of 18, as well as the state–sponsored photos for Natives and the poor, was deleted.

The appeals board now allowed cross–examination of any witnesses regarding classifications. All sittings would be in camera. Both the objector and the individual objecting to the classification had the option to appear in person or designate a counsel or attorney. Only after providing an opportunity for a person’s hearing could the director alter a classification. The bill was not to extend to South West Africa without prior consultation with the executive committee of the territory.

Implementation of the identity card

On 17 June 1950 it was announced that at least 50 000 public servants, including the office personnel of the South African Railways, would be the first South Africans to be compelled to carry identity cards under the Population Registration Act, which became law in June 1950. The Department of the Interior requested that heads of departments ensure their staff promptly complete and submit application forms. This time was to be a trial period, and the cards issued to them would be replaced with new cards once the population register was completed.

During the trial period, public servants would have to inform the director of births, marriages, and deaths, as well as changes of address, as they would under the national register. All these trial period forms and cards would be destroyed once the national register came into operation.

By late November 1950, the government printer was drawing up the final version of the identity card, which South Africans would have to carry from 1951. The Department of the Interior was expected to finalise the trial period in late December and submit a report to the minister. Registration would take place at the same time as the 1951 census. An extension of the Census and Statistics building in Pretoria was stepped up to accommodate personnel and documents. The most common issue during the trial period was that addresses were not provided in full. Many people provided a P.O. box instead, which was not in accordance with instructions.

The census took place on 08 May 1951; not all voters received the census forms in time, but enumerators visited farms and other areas to take the necessary information. For the purposes of the census, Jan I. Raats developed the following definitions:

– ‘Asiatic’ refers to a person whose parents are both members of a race or tribe with a national or ethnic home in Asia; this definition includes individuals of partly Asiatic origin who live as part of an Asiatic family but excludes Jews, Syrians, and Cape Malays.

– ‘Bantu’ refers to a person whose parents are both members of an aboriginal tribe of Africa, and it includes individuals of mixed race who live as part of the Bantu community, tribe, kraal, or location; however, it does not encompass any Bushman, Griqua, Hottentot, or Koranna.

– ‘Cape Malay’ means any person who states that he is a Malay, unless and until the contrary is proved.

– ‘Cape Coloured’ means any person who is not a white person, Asiatic, Bantu or Cape Malay as defined, and shall include any Bushman, Griqua, Hottentot or Koranna.

– A white person is defined as an individual whose parents are or were both members of a race whose national or ethnic home is Europe; this definition includes any Jew, Syrian, or other individuals who are obviously white in appearance, unless and until the contrary is proved.

By June 1951, the Department of Interior was set to start issuing identity cards to all Europeans and non–Europeans other than Natives throughout the country and South West Africa. All individuals under these two categories who filled in census forms received a certificate of enumeration. The certificate had to be kept until it could be exchanged for the identity card. Each certificate had a number and gave the person’s name and address. This process was expected to take several years. Natives would be processed later.

Special offices had been established, and staff had been recruited in Johannesburg and the eight main centres of the country. The Transvaal offices were at Geneva House on Loveday Street, in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Bethal. The Cape offices were in Kimberley, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London. The Orange Free State had an office in Bloemfontein, and Natal’s office was in Durban. In all other towns, the work was done at the magistrate’s court. South West Africa was processed in Kimberley. Johannesburg had 50 temporary clerks working overtime until 10pm. In the Witwatersrand there were over one million identity cards to be issued. By mid–December, the compilation of the national population register was underway.

Reference books (dompas) are introduced

On 28 April 1952, an identification system for Natives was announced and published in the Government Gazette on 29 April. According to the Minister of Native Affairs, Dr H.F. Verwoerd, employers would have to report the engagement, discharge, or desertion of a Native employee. Natives born outside South Africa would, in addition to identification, require permission to move from one district to another. A pocket book would be issued incorporating the identity card to be issued under the Population Registration Act and making provision for noting tax payments and permissions.

In May 1952, it was announced that the compilation of the national population register for all people, except Natives, was expected to be completed in six months.

In late August, it was announced that new reference books (passbooks) would be issued early in 1953. The reference book would be issued to all Natives, foreign or local. It would contain a recent photograph, the identity card sealed on the cover of the book, and pages for noting employment, tax payments, and other information, such as exemptions from curfew regulations. The reference book had an index: A for Labour Bureau, influx control and registration; B for employers’ name, address and signature; C for Union tax payments; D for Bantu authorities tax; and E for other.

More than 2 million Natives over the age of 16 would have to be photographed at mobile units. This process was to begin in November, and it was expected that 1 500 000 cards would be issued in 18 months. The first reference books to be processed were for the 2.5 million male Natives that applied for exemption under old pass laws. In 1953, the scheme would be extended to all other male Natives of 16 years and over. Female Natives were not required to carry identity cards at this stage.

By October 1952 the national population register was almost complete, and printing machines were ready. The cards were expected to be issued in 1953. The initial cards were issued free of charge. About 5 500 000 identity cards were to be issued – 3 million to Europeans, Indians and Coloureds over 16 years of age. The applicants had to pay for the photos.

In April 1953, there were already 33 000 reference books distributed in Pretoria. Before the reference book was issued, the bearer had to be up to date with his taxes. In the same month, new offences under the Identity Law were published:

– failure to produce an identity card within seven days or failure to notify a change of address
– making a false statement
– representing another person’s identity as one’s own
– defacing or destroying the identity card
– allowing another person to possess one’s identity card is prohibited.
– failing to supply the Director with the correct details or to surrender a card with incorrect details or an outdated photo.
– disclosing confidential information while employed in the compilation of the national population register is prohibited.

In August 1953, it was announced that European women aged 16 years and over, and Asiatic and Coloured women, would have to carry identity cards. When all other racial groups had been issued with identity cards and all male Natives with reference books, then Native women would be included. By now the national population register was practically complete.

The photographing of Asiatics in Pretoria had started at the Marabstad police station. At the Chinese Club in Pretoria, 400 Chinese were photographed by photographers of the Department of Interior with high–speed cameras similar to those used for taking photos of Natives for the reference books. The Department of Interior also announced its plan to distribute 200,000 reference books throughout Pretoria and Reef.

New head office – Civitas Building

In May 1954, tenders called for the erection of a six–storey building to house the Population Registration Bureau. The cost of the building would bring the total cost of the register to about £1 500 000, of which the public would contribute £887 500. The building would be on the corner of Schoeman and Van der Walt Streets.

The ground floor was for voter registration, population registration, and birth and death registration. The first floor was for the maintenance of the register, keeping it up–to–date with the addition of births and immigration and removing the names of deceased people or those who emigrated. The second floor was the identity card section that included a laminating machine room. The third floor housed the registrar’s administration office.

A conference room on the third floor was lined with stinkwood panelling and had concealed lighting. The fourth and fifth floors housed the tabulating machine section. All machine rooms were lined with acoustic tiles to absorb noise. On the roof there was a recreation room and reading room linked with a pergola to form an open terrace.

All trial period experiments had concluded by 12 January 1954. The photographing of several thousand white public servants started in Pretoria on 15 January. Twenty professional photographers were employed in Pretoria. Later the bureau used special cameras and films that produced a finished product within seconds. This equipment was currently being used to take photos of Natives for reference books. The photographer handed each photographed person a form NVR8, requiring them to complete it while they waited for their photo. The photograph was handed over in specially addressed envelopes. The applicant then sent the photo and NVR8 form to the Bureau of Census and Statistics in Pretoria. The photo was then attached to the identity card.

Minister Dönges stated that up to the end of December 1953, the register had cost £240 000, which included £63 358 for tabulating machines and accessories, £20 000 for cameras and photographic equipment, and £20 500 for materials for identity cards. The public would pay £450 000 for six million photographs of whites, Indians, and Coloureds of both sexes (1s 6d each), £250 000 for five million photographs of Native males (1s each), and £187 500 for leather wallets for reference books (1s 6d each).

Contracted photographers

The bureau enlisted the services of a large number of professional photographers. Those that met the required standards received letters of appointment. The government warned against bogus photographers. In February 1954, dissatisfaction with the organisation of the scheme led a number of private photographers to withdraw from the panel originally entrusted with photographing Pretoria’s population. By the end of May, many Cape Town photographers, in common with those in other provinces, had left the scheme.

Some of the photographers in the Transvaal that were issued letters of appointment:
Pretoria: Alec Brick’s Photo Studio, J.H. de la Rey, Express Photo Service, H.J. Hahndiek, Vera Scholtz
Johannesburg: CTC Photo Studio, Leon’s Photographers, Paramount Studios, Rand Happy Snaps
Bethal: A.V.W. Cloete, J.F. Meyer, Van Riebeeck Pharmacy
Bloemhof: M.l. Kruger
Duiwelskloof: Kloof Pharmacy
Ermelo: Alma Studios
Klerksdorp: Lionel Jacobs, Polyfoto Limited
Komatipoort: J. Viljoen
Lydenburg: Foto Groenewold
Nelspruit: H.J. Hahndiek
Pietersburg: Polyfoto Limited
Potchefstroom: Abe Silber Studios, Polyfoto Limited
Vanderbijlpark: Rejane Ateljee
Vereeniging: Vaal Studio
Witbank: Hardies Photographic Studio
Volksrust: Dowell & Daniel

The photographing of more than 300 000 whites in Johannesburg and the Reef started on 13 September 1954, involving 60 photographers. Sixty professional photographers in the Transvaal accepted the controlled fee of 2s 6d for taking photos for the population register. One of the first offices to be visited was Welfare House, the headquarters of the Johannesburg Social Welfare Department, where 90 workers were photographed against a blank wall. People had to remove their spectacles and were asked not to smile. Photos cost the applicant 2s 6d.

Mrs Elizabeth OLIVIER spent her whole day away from her studio to photograph the welfare workers, starting at 8:30am and finishing at 4pm. She carried a batch of NVR8 forms. The forms asked for name, address, birthplace, citizenship, and the number of the enumeration certificate issued during the 1951 census. Photographers didn’t have stipulated areas to cover; they made their own arrangements and photographed wherever they chose. Elizabeth decided to cover mainly government and municipal offices, as covering residential areas was more difficult.

Early October 1954 saw the completion of the work, which had started in Pretoria in January and involved the photography of approximately 100,000 people.

For the purposes of the national population register, the Witwatersrand consisted of the following districts: Nigel, Benoni, Boksburg, Brakpan, Springs, Germiston, Johannesburg, Krugersdorp, Randfontein, and Roodepoort. An enquiry clerk was stationed at every magistrate’s office, except for Johannesburg, Krugersdorp, and Boksburg. In Johannesburg the electoral officer, and in Krugersdorp the native commissioner, rendered the necessary assistance. In Boksburg, the Social Welfare office provided assistance. Provision was also made for the newly created magistrate’s office in Kempton Park.

By mid–January 1955, about 320 000 out of an estimated total of 456 000 Europeans were photographed on the Witwatersrand. Every week, photographers would photograph between 10,000 and 30,000 people on the Rand. The issuing of identity cards was expected to start in June in the Witwatersrand, Pretoria, Western Cape, and Natal.

Identity cards for tourists

In February 1955, it was announced that even tourists 16 years and older would have to carry identity cards when visiting South Africa. The only relaxation allowed by the Population Registration Act was for visitors who were not South Africans and had been admitted to the country for a temporary purpose – these visitors didn’t need to be photographed. They needed an identity card issued at their port of entry; their passports were not enough.

In April 1955, photographing of Europeans, Asiatics and Coloureds of both sexes over the age of 16 started in Port Elizabeth and East London. By then, 780 587 people had been photographed across the country, but the first identity cards hadn’t been issued yet. Excluding Natives, 433 000 were photographed in Johannesburg, 110 000 in Pretoria, 105 953 in Cape Town, Durban and Pietermaritzburg, and 131 634 in the Western Cape.

In August 1955 it was announced that all Europeans, Cape Coloureds, Malays and Asiatics, excluding Natives, of 16 years of age and over would be photographed between 15 August and November 1955. The Transvaal, with the exception of the following magisterial districts, was included in this period: Pretoria, Johannesburg, Germiston, Kempton Park, Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan, Springs, Nigel, Roodepoort, Randfontein, Krugersdorp and Alberton.

First identity cards issued

On 17 October 1955 the first European identity cards in South Africa were handed over at Government House in Pretoria to Governor–General E.G. Jansen and his wife, to Prime Minister J.G. Strijdom and his wife, to Minister of the Interior Dr T.E. Dönges and his wife, and to the mayor of Pretoria, Dr H. Muller, and his wife. Dr Jansen’s identity card was unusual in that he was shown wearing his spectacles. Jan Raats explained that the Bureau of Census and Statistics makes an exception when wearing spectacles is an essential part of a man’s identity, which is why he was asked to clarify the rule that photographs for identity cards must be taken without spectacles.

Work had already begun on compiling a register of Native women under the Population Registration Act. Their identity cards would start being issued in January 1956. By October 1955, the population register already contained details about 4.5 million Europeans, Coloureds, and Asians. To date 1 950 000 identity cards, which formed part of Native reference books, had been issued.

In December 1955, a new regulation stopped couples from marrying after 01 January 1956, if they did not produce their identity cards or identification card registration numbers. This was not welcomed by the clergy, who complained that it would create additional labour.

Reference books for Native women

On 14 March 1956, Native women received identity documents for the first time in the country’s history. They were in a batch of 295 people over the age of 16 who called the Winburg magistrate’s court to receive their black–covered reference books issued under the Population Registration Act. It was estimated that the distribution of reference books to the 2.5 million Native women in the country would take at least three years.

The reference books were issued for free, but the photos cost 1s each, and a wallet was 1s 6d, making the total cost 3s 6d. Photographs were taken by photographers employed by the Native Affairs Department. The particulars in the Native women’s reference books were similar to those in the maroon reference books of Native men, but no provision was made for tax receipts since Native women didn’t pay poll tax.

The particulars included her name, sex, ethnic group and tribe, a recent photo, fingerprints, date of issue, and, in the case of a Native woman who was not a South African, her citizenship and nationality. Employers’ names and dates of employment could be entered in the book but were not essential.

Branch offices opened

In June 1956, the National Population Register department established a branch office in Johannesburg, where individuals could retrieve their identity cards. At the time, cards could only be collected in person at the Bureau of Census and Statistics in Schoeman Street in Pretoria. Identity cards were neither mailed out nor handed over to messengers. In rural areas, Bureau officials attended central points for a specified period to distribute identity cards.

By mid–January 1957, the Witwatersrand and Pretoria offices had issued or were ready to issue nearly 500 000 identity cards for Europeans and Coloureds. Large state, semi–state, industrial, and commercial undertakings received their cards in bulk, which led to the distribution of a large number of cards in Johannesburg.

People who urgently needed their cards could collect them in Pretoria. If the applicant’s card was not ready, he could wait 30 minutes for it to be printed. The distribution of cards to other large urban areas, including Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban, as well as rural areas, started in the early part of 1957. Youths who had reached 16 years of age in the last three years were advised to have their photo taken and send in their applications.

In 1957, the registration of births, marriages, and deaths required identity card numbers, not the cards themselves. If people didn’t have a number yet, they could go to an office in the Rissik Street Post Office to find out.

In May 1957, the construction of the new Population Register building in Pretoria continued, with an expected completion date of August.

By late May 1957, over 800 000 identity cards had been printed, with 155 000 ready for distribution on the Cape Peninsula. The Bureau was aiming to have completed distribution of these cards by 1958. More than two years after thousands of people in the Western Cape had submitted forms and photos to the Bureau in Pretoria. No one had yet received an identity card. Applications had slowed down, with the last remaining Cape Town photographer getting about six requests per week for photos.

Identity card use expanded

In May 1958, people who had not applied for an identity card during the 1955–56 registration drive could still apply. By November, some government departments started asking people for their ID, although possession of a card was not yet compulsory. One such department, the Department of Labour, used population register numbers to identify people receiving unemployment benefits. Identity cards were mandatory for those undergoing teacher training (1956), nursing training (1958), and receiving government pensions (1959).

In July 1959 the Department of Population Register met a Union–wide deputation of photographers in Cape Town to discuss the taking of identity card photos. At that time, the photo–taking process was nearly at a halt, with hundreds of thousands of people eagerly awaiting their turn.

In the Transvaal, you needed an identity number to get a marriage licence, burial permit, or duplicate driver’s licence by October 1959. The Department of the Interior had not yet promulgated a regulation making the carrying of identity cards compulsory.

Towards the end of the year, nearly two million Europeans and Coloureds had received their identity cards. Some people expressed dissatisfaction with their race classification and appealed to the Race Classification Board for a review of their cases. The Board met in Pretoria in November 1959 for the first time in nearly a year. The Board heard a few hundred applications from the approximately 250 000 individuals who received their cards in Pretoria. The cases were described as borderline between Coloured and European, and Native and Coloured.

In January 1960, the number of whites still waiting to collect their cards in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Pretoria was about 600 000. By February, 1.7 million cards had been issued, leaving a balance to be issued of about another million cards for whites and Coloureds.

In April 1960 the Department of Justice warned employers that they were liable to prosecution if they employed or retained the services of Africans who did not have a reference book or valid temporary document. The police could arrest Africans without reference books or valid temporary documents.

In October 1962, it was announced that a peace officer would be entitled to ask anyone to furnish their name and address and to produce their identity card. Peace officers included magistrates, justices of the peace, sheriffs and assistant sheriffs, police officers, superintendents and assistant superintendents, jail warders, passport control officers, and location superintendents and assistants.

Anyone who failed to produce a card within seven days of being asked by an authorised person would be guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding R100. Malicious loss, destruction, or damage to their card would result in a fine of R200.

By the end of 1962, more than two million whites over the age of 16 had obtained their identity cards. A total of 2 116 772 cards were issued to whites, 739 246 to Coloureds, and 179 653 to Asiatics. At this stage, if applications were submitted in person, cards could be issued in a few hours, and mailed applications took up to three weeks.

More staff as deadlines approach

The New Year saw overworked officials at the Population Register offices in Pretoria given extra staff to handle the growing flood of applications for identity cards. Officials had worked overtime for some time by then. One day in January, the mail brought in about 10 000 applications.

A double deadline day occurred on 01 February 1963. All whites, Coloureds and Indians now had to be in possession of identification cards, and all African women had to be in possession of and carry reference books. Nearly a month after it became mandatory to carry an identity card, the population register office was still overflowing with applications. The daily average of applications received was between 4 000 and 5 000. The office was then capable of issuing 2 000 cards a day.

In April, the national population register was expected to be up to date by July. Applications were still being received at a rate of up to 1 000 a day, and about 3 000 identity cards were being issued daily. The highest number of applications received in a single day was 16 597, which occurred shortly after the identity cards became compulsory.

In June 1965 a notice in the Orange Free State provincial gazette announced that householders could only open new electricity accounts with the Bloemfontein municipality on production of their identity card or, in the case of non–South African citizens, a passport.

In August 1966, authorities reiterated the requirement for all whites to possess an identity card. The Population Registration Board received 148 504 new applications for identity cards between 01 May and 01 August. About 80% of the cases that were either heard or awaiting a hearing by the Population Registration Board in the 18 months since the beginning of 1965 involved individuals classified as Coloured who wished to be reclassified as white.

In October 1966, the police urged banks in the Witwatersrand to require identity cards from individuals who presented cheques for payment at the counter. The appeal followed an increase in the number of cheque and chequebook thefts from post boxes.

In December 1966, schoolchildren of all races in government schools, both primary and high schools, were ordered to write their identity numbers on their examination papers to avoid confusion of names. This was in terms of a government directive issued in February. The identity numbers of the successful pupils would appear on their certificates.

There was an increase in appeals for reclassification from Coloured to white since August, the deadline for obtaining identity cards. The Race Classification Board started hearing cases in 1951. At the end of 1966 there were still 100 cases pending.

Corruption

In January 1967, a former chief passport officer at Jan Smuts Airport was among a number of white public servants detained under the 180–day clause in connection with the illegal entry of Chinese people. The 180–day clause led to the detention of eight Chinese in Durban and Johannesburg. A smuggling ring obtained falsified identity cards and passports. Fees for forged birth certificates, identity cards and passports cost at least R2 000 per person. Two detained Chinese committed suicide, one in Leeukop Prison and the other in Pretoria. Several Indians were also detained.

In April, the Pretoria Regional Magistrate heard evidence that 17 illegal Chinese immigrants had paid R19 500 for forged South African identity cards and birth certificates. The former chairman of the Pretoria Chinese Association as well as the Central Chinese Association appeared in court and was convicted of fraud and jailed for three years.

In May, a former passport official at the Department of Interior was charged with having accepted almost R35 000 in bribes for obtaining identity cards and birth certificates for illegal Chinese immigrants. He was convicted in the Pretoria Supreme Court on 36 counts of corruption. At the time, he was earning R130 per month and had been working in the department since 1951. He spent most of the bribe money on the horses.

Race classification tears families apart

The promulgation of the Population Registration Amendment Act in 1967 led to an increase in the number of race reclassification cases. In September 1967, a man who was South African–born and lived and worked as white but was issued a coloured identity card lost his appeal to the Race Classification Board. A woman gave evidence that she objected to him travelling on the same bus as hers. In October, a family with white identity cards were fighting their reclassification to Coloured. They lost their appeal to the Race Classification Board. Three of their children were in white schools; they were also reclassified as coloured and transferred to coloured schools.

Book of Life introduced

In February 1968, there was talk of the government changing the identity card to a book. The Minister of the Interior, le Roux, announced in March that a comprehensive “Book of Life” would replace all forms of personal identification. As a start, it would replace the current identity cards, driver’s licences, certificates, and immunisations. The new computerised population registration system would start in two years. The inclusion of the Bantu population was being discussed.

The Minister of the Interior, S.C. Muller, introduced a far–reaching bill to the Population Registration Act in Parliament in March 1969. One of the main reasons for the bill was the finding by the Judge President of the Cape, Beyers, that reliance on what was written on the 1951 census forms was not a proper test of race. The population register was based on the 1951 census, the only time the census was used for purposes other than statistics.

The new bill suggested holding in–camera hearings for appeals against race classification and mandating identity card applications. The Minister of the Interior would be empowered to change the race classification of a person with that person’s permission. Objections against the classification of all minors would be allowed. The bill would also effect a change in the circumstances in which it is assumed that a person is generally accepted as a coloured person.

In June 1970, a draft bill providing for amendment of the Population Registration Act and the issue of identity documents to replace existing identity cards was published in the Government Gazette. The new document would show the following information:
– race
– new identity number
– sex
– birth details
– the holder’s postal address
– electoral division and polling station where he is registered
– date of naturalisation if a naturalised citizen
– if he is not born in South Africa, the date of arrival in South Africa and country of origin
– marriage certificate and marital status
– particulars of passports and permits to leave South Africa and dates of departure from and return to the Republic
– driver’s licences
– firearm licences
– educational qualifications
– occupation
– vaccinations and immunisations
– blood group
– the language in which the holder wants to be served for the purpose of the Act
– notice of permanent departure from the Republic
– a photo

It ultimately proved impractical to bring together all the different documents overseen by different government departments, with the book’s many pages largely left empty.

Africans would have to provide further details such as the district of permanent residence, ethnic grouping, and, if not a South African citizen, fingerprints. They would have to notify the Minister of the Interior about a change of permanent address. A clause in the draft bill mandated the production of the identity document within seven days of a police officer or another authorised person’s request.

According to the Deputy Minister of the Interior, J.L. Fourie, all the information required for the Book of Life was already available in different government departments. The new measure would consolidate the information into one document. The firearms register and driver’s licence register would become part of the national population register. The legislation was adopted on 30 July 1970.

Identity documents would have a 13–digit identity number, replacing the 9–digit number. The new identity number was made up as follows:
– The first six digits represented the date of birth of the holder in yymmdd format.
– The next four digits were a serial number to distinguish people born on the same day and indicated the sex. The 7th to 10th digits between 0001 and 4 999 indicated female, and 5 000+ indicated male.
– The 11th digit indicated whether the holder was a South African citizen (0) or not (1–9) – the latter for foreigners to show their residency status in South Africa.
– The 12th digit indicated racial group:
00 white
01 Cape Coloured
02 Malay
03 Griqua
04 Chinese
05 Indian
06 Other Asian
07 Other Coloured
– The 13th digit was a control digit.

The Department of Interior hoped to start work on the new identity document in June 1971 and estimated it would take five to six years to issue it to all South Africans, except African citizens. The Department of Bantu Administration and Development was looking at providing a similar identity document to Africans.

In October 1971, Frank & Hirsch (Pty) Ltd., the sole distributors of Polaroid equipment in South Africa, remained silent about the American company’s decision to halt sales of equipment in the country that could be used in the country’s apartheid programme.

On 27 October 1971, it was announced that the issuing of identity cards and the registration of births, marriages, and deaths would be suspended for about three weeks in November as the relevant sections of the Department of the Interior moved to the department’s new building in Pretoria.

In November, Coloured political and religious leaders in Johannesburg were asking why official government forms include “Other Coloured” under race classification. Several people had recently been issued with identity cards or birth certificates with the term on them. The Department of the Interior said the term was defined in the Government Gazette of 26 May 1967. Other Coloured was a person with a yellowish skin tone who was between black and white. By December, Coloured people started returning these documents to the department.

In 1970, according to government definitions, there were seven subgroups of Coloured: Cape Coloured, Malay, Griqua, Chinese, Indian, Other Asiatic (consisting of Zanzibar Arabs and anyone originating anywhere in Asia other than China, Pakistan, and India), and Other Coloured (anyone not in any of the prior groups and who is neither white nor African). There were also 10 classifications of Africans or blacks.

Six of the Coloured classifications were administered by the Coloured Affairs Administration. From 1963, Indians were administered by the Indian Affairs Administration, although Indians remained classified as part of the Coloured category until 1991.

The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970 forced millions of black South Africans to become citizens of independent homelands, stripping them of South African citizenship. They were considered foreign nationals even when working in South Africa. By 1990, over four million people had lost citizenship under this system.

In March 1972, the Minister of the Interior, Theo Gerdener, agreed to change the race classification of a 1–year–old baby boy from Other Coloured to white after an appeal. The baby’s father was Japanese, and the mother was white. Race classification was determined by the nationality of the father. The white Cape Town couple who had looked after the baby since his birth could then go ahead with adopting him.

The Book of Life was issued on 01 February 1972. Individuals born and married in South Africa or South West Africa were requested to submit their birth and marriage certificates, although it was not obligatory. The submission of certificates would facilitate the tracing of the original certificates in the registry. The certificates would be returned. Individuals born and married outside South Africa or South West Africa were also requested to submit their certificates, which would form part of the person’s records and be returned to them.

The submission of old identity cards was optional. If, however, these were not submitted, two new photos had to be provided. You had to submit your original or duplicate driver’s licence, which would be returned. The documents submitted, except the driver’s licence and the identity card, would be returned within a few days, along with the new identity document. It would take five to six years to issue books for all.

The new computerised population register combined the existing central birth, marriage, and death registers; the existing population register; the existing central driver’s and firearm licence registers; and the existing voters roll.

Africans were able to get citizenship cards in seven homeland capitals as of 29 February 1972. They were issued by homeland governments in terms of the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970. The Transkei also issued separate citizenship cards specifically for its residents.

By the end of March, there was an increasing backlog of applications. The department received 15 000 applications per day. By midnight on 27 March, the average daily number of books mailed out was 2 000. People with firearm licences received priority when applying; licences had to be renewed before 01 February 1973. Driving licences had to be renewed before 01 February 1974.

In October 1972, Africans with driver’s licences were advised to obtain new reference books so that their licences could be endorsed on them before 31 January 1974. The new reference books included a column specifically for recording the endorsements. Africans who wanted to undergo driving tests could not do so until they had a new reference book. It was now the law that driver’s licences would be endorsed in reference books and identity books for all racial groups.

In May 1973, people possessing or applying for firearm licences were advised to apply for their new identity documents – the Book of Life. At this time, there were more than a million firearm licences in South Africa, and completing the firearm registry was a priority. The amnesty date for licensing unlicensed firearms was extended to 31 January 1974. Other categories of Book of Life applications being processed at the time included those from 16–year–olds without identity cards and permanent residents lacking South African identity documents. By June 1973, more than 800 000 Books of Life had been issued.

In February 1974 the Minister of the Interior, Dr Mulder, stated that every voter wishing to exercise his right to vote in the General Election of 24 April 1974 would be required to show proof of identity – an identity document, an identity card, a driver’s licence or a passport. A voter who didn’t have one of these documents would require identification from a voter they knew personally.

The department issued 1.5 million books by late April. Incomplete application forms, failure to provide a return postal address, and staff shortages resulted in delays, leaving some voters waiting for up to four months. The department was receiving 33 000 to 40 000 applications per week.

Civitas Building on fire

On 08 July 1974, firemen and two South African Air Force Puma helicopters from 19 Squadron evacuated about 2 000 workers, including Owen Horwood, Minister of Economic Affairs, from a fire in the 30–storey Civitas Building on Andries Street. All firemen in Pretoria responded. The Pretoria fire chief was P.F. DAVEY.

The fire started in the basement soon after 9 a.m., and soon the stairs became a funnel for it. Thousands of files on open steel cabinets were in the basement. Most, if not all, of the file contents were computerised. The investigation later found that a hanging file was too close to a naked ceiling light. The building was not fully completed, and the fireproof sprinklers in the basement were not yet connected.

One helicopter scanned windows for trapped people. It was the first time that the squadron was called out to a fire. Captain Bekker and Lieutenant Kieser were the pilots. Sergeant Lappies Laubscher was hoisted down to the roof. Two policemen and four firemen landed on the roof to search the building. Five people were plucked from the roof. Stewart Nimmo (60) worked on the 25th floor. He escaped to the roof, where two firemen assisted him in descending to the 28th floor, where the elevators were still operational.

Elevator technicians were doing maintenance in the building when the fire broke out. One of them was Eddie EDMONDS. The technicians used manual controls to assist people in evacuating the building.

In July, the Minister of the Interior, Connie MULDER, said that the government wanted to register voters automatically through the population register and thereby eliminate the periodic general registration of voters. He urged those eligible to vote to apply for the Book of Life.

In October 1977 the Minister of Information, Dr Eschel Rhoodie, said that the government intended to phase out pass books for blacks and replace them with identity cards similar to those of whites. The Minister of Bantu Administration, M.C. Botha, said that Dr Rhoodie was speculating on a statement Mr Botha made after meeting a committee of homeland leaders about modernising the influx control system.

Book of Life replaced

In November 1978, the Minister of the Interior and Immigration, Alwyn Schlebusch, said that a new and smaller Book of Life would replace the existing one. Children would no longer be issued a Book of Life but an identity card. The government was still investigating aspects of the new document.

Officials planned the introduction of a new driver’s licence system in February 1983. It would replace the licence, which was incorporated in the Book of Life. A basic reason for the new card system was that it would largely eliminate forged licences. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) conducted an investigation into the new card. It would include a photo of the driver, his thumbprint, his identity number, his race, the date of issue, any disabilities, and the type of vehicle he is licensed to drive. The Department of Internal Affairs was also examining the reissuing of the licence every three years.

The Department of Internal Affairs announced in July 1983 that it wanted to phase out the Book of Life and replace it with a single–purpose identity document. The new document would exclude proof of driver’s licence, firearm licence, marriage certificate, and birth details. The new document would be exclusively for identification, containing a photograph of the holder, his name and his fingerprint. The department’s computers already contained a mass of personal information about citizens. This data could be expanded to include the information currently contained in the Book of Life.

The small green identity book had 16 pages. It was issued to whites, Coloureds, Indians, and people of Malay, Chinese, Griqua, or other Asian descent. The 13–digit identity number remained. It was a fingerprint–authenticated identity document, which was used until about 1990.

A plea was made in August 1983 for voters who didn’t have an identity book to apply as soon as possible, as there was a referendum on new constitutional proposals on 02 November. Without the document, they would not be able to vote. All applications received before 30 September would be processed by referendum day.

A new application for an adult’s Book of Life did not require an R2 revenue stamp. Form BI9 and two monochrome photos were required for a new application. The R2 revenue stamp was payable when details in an existing book had to be changed, such as a change of citizenship, a name change, a change in marital status, or a firearm licence, and then only if one did not send in their book. If a person’s old one was stolen and the theft reported to the police, the R2 revenue fee was not required if the police case number was supplied when applying. In any of these cases, form BI10, not BI9, had to be used.

By the beginning of September, 158 940 people still did not have an identity book, according to the Minister of Internal Affairs, F.W. de Klerk. Documents for which applications had already been received would be posted in September. By the end of September, there were still 124 000 people eligible for identity cards who had not yet applied.

More than 500 officials were working up to 5½ hours overtime per day to process all applications. During that period, the department processed 32 000 applications, of which 22 000 were reissues. Thirty thousand identity books were issued in two months.

Permanent residents who were not citizens could get an identity book but were barred from voting in the referendum. The only South Africans able to vote in the referendum without the identity book were naturalised white South African citizens who were naturalised after the 30 September deadline for new applications. They could vote if they presented their current identity document plus the certificate issued by the Department of Internal Affairs as proof of naturalisation.

To qualify as a voter, a person had to be over 18 years of age, a South African citizen, and a resident in the country. The person’s identity number had to have two zeros in the 11th and 12th digits. Over 2 713 000 people were eligible to vote.

By 29 October, the Department of Internal Affairs had processed all identity book applications it received before mid–October. Since 01 October, the Department of Home Affairs has mailed over 90 000 books.

In March 1984, Hendrik Schoeman the Minister of Transport, revealed that arrangements would be made for Coloured and Indian Members of Parliament to use white accommodation and other white facilities on trains once the new constitution was introduced. Upon presenting their identity cards, the President’s Council allowed Coloured and Indian members to use white accommodation and dining–car facilities.

A new green identity book and new ID numbers

A new identity document (a small green barcoded book with 8 pages) was introduced in 1985. In January 1985, new identity books took between four and six months to process due to a backlog in Pretoria with first–time applicants. The reissues took about three months.

In 1987 the identity number system removed race classification from identity numbers. From 1986 to 1987, new identity numbers were issued to every South African citizen and permanent resident, removing the race classification number. The identity number no longer tracked a person’s race, the seventh digit indicates sex, and the eleventh digit distinguishes between citizens and permanent residents. Applicants had to provide their fingerprints for the barcoded book. The biometric data is stored in the National Population Register.

The end of the dompas

On 13 November 1986, the reference book system (dompas) was eliminated. There was a referendum in 1992 where the majority of white people voted to abolish apartheid. With the advent of South Africa’s democracy in 1994, black people received full citizenship rights and received the same green identity book as people of other races.

In 2000, the Department of Home Affairs started issuing identity books with the holder’s photo digitally printed in black and white instead of being pasted or laminated into them. The new South African coat of arms replaced the old one.

In 2004 leaking water was destroying valuable documents, and the Civitas Building was in breach of fire regulations. Years later, the building deteriorated to such an extent that authorities declared it unsafe, forcing staff to relocate to other government buildings. This procedure went on for more than a year. There was also a flood in the building, which eventually led to staff moving out completely in September 2021.

Smart ID card introduced

The latest version of South Africa’s identity document is the Smart ID card introduced in July 2013. It replaced the barcoded green identity book and any other previous identity document.

The Department of Home Affairs kept individual files on millions of whites, Coloureds and Indians. Sometimes these files were mislaid. The current Department of Home Affairs does not have the means to accept the old nine–digit identity card numbers. These two issues are the main reason why today it takes so long to get unabridged certificates from the department.