New secure identification cards that can double as travel documents to neighboring countries
The government launched new-look identification cards (IDs) that can enable citizens to travel to neighbouring countries without a passport.
The new ID’s were launched last week by President Hage Geingob.
Introducing the new ID’s Namibia’s Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, Albert Kawana said the new IDs will do away with the fingerprint system, as they introduced a quick response code (QRC) and the bar code will be replaced by a machine-readable zone (MRZ).
According to Kawana, the IDs will be more secure, as QRC and MRZ will contain elements to be read by a machine and are not easy to manipulate.
“The advantage of the new IDs is that they can be linked to e-governance. This is a welcome development because e-governance has featured prominently in our country’s developmental goals,” he added.
Kawana said the current IDs will continue to be in use and the migration to the new-look IDs will be a gradual process and those citizens applying for duplicates and new IDs will be issued with the new-look IDs as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, the new IDs are compatible with the specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
