Pretoria: Home Affairs Minister, Dr. Leon Schreiber, announced on Monday that from 1 July 2025, an upgraded National Population Register (NPR) verification service will be rolled out to all companies and government users. This initiative aims to improve the speed and reliability of identity verification processes.
According to South African Government News Agency, the enhanced service will boost service delivery across government departments and promote financial inclusion in the private sector. The rollout will include tariff increases, which were determined after comprehensive public consultation and agreement from the Minister of Finance. Since 2013, the department has offered the online verification system (OVS) to third parties, enabling them to access the NPR for identity and biographical checks. However, the system has become outdated and unable to meet growing demands.
The existing OVS has been plagued by a failure rate exceeding 50% for verification checks, with successful responses often delayed by hours, undermining the purpose of real-time verification. The under-pricing of the service, at as little as R0.15 per verification, has also limited the State’s ability to maintain and improve the NPR. This has led to some private sector entities inflating profits at the expense of public service quality and overwhelming the system with excessive queries.
From 1 July 2025, a new and improved OVS will be implemented, featuring real-time functionality with a failure rate reduced to below 1%. The upgraded system will offer cost-effective ‘non-live batch verifications’ during off-peak hours, encouraging users to avoid overloading the live queue and addressing offline system issues at Home Affairs offices. The fee for real-time verifications will increase to R10 per transaction, while non-live batch verifications will cost R1 per verification field request. Government departments will continue to access the service free of charge.
Minister Schreiber emphasized the importance of a functional population register for national security and financial inclusion, highlighting its role in South Africa’s efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list. He urged all users to prioritize national security over profit and support this critical reform. The investment in the NPR is also seen as a step towards a digital-first approach at Home Affairs, with the NPR serving as the central database for identity verification.
Organizations interested in connecting to the new OVS can contact verifications@dha.gov.za for more information. The updated fee schedule is available at [Gazette 52893](https://www.dha.gov.za/images/gazettes/gazette-52893-230625-dha.pdf).