The US has social security numbers and the UK has national insurance numbers, but in Sweden and South Africa EVERYTHING runs on national identity numbers. You cannot do anything without one.
In Sweden you need a civic registration number to do anything (visit a doctor, do your banking, rent an apartment, study, work – ANYTHING!). Without one you are completely outside the system. You are unable to visit a doctor, open a bank account, apply for a job and so on.
A Swedish national identity would look like this
6306214908
and is constituted as follows
- date of birth (in this case 21 June 1963)
- 2 numbers which previously denoted place of birth but which are now random (in this case 49)
- 1 number gender (odd for a man, even for a woman)
- 1 control number.
You are assigned this number when you are born or when you receive permission to study, work or live in Sweden. Swedes are really proud of this system as it allows every single system to function well. You have to carry identification with you at all times in order to have access to any system. You show your identification and voila! any system can see you.
What many people do not know is that South Africa used almost exactly the same identity number system to enforce apartheid, and that it was introduced at more or less the same time as the Swedish system. This was done by adding two digits to the end of the number series to denote race and citizenship. This was the foundation of the entire apartheid (‘apartness’ system) and allowed the enforcement of the Group Areas Act (keeping races living apart), the Immorality Act (preventing people from different races from having sex) and the Pass Laws Act (permits in the ‘passbook’ showed where black people were allowed to be, often contained behavioural evaluation, and were the reason for many arrests. These passbooks were the reason for the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960)
All South Africans had to carry identity books with them, which were checked when you entered a shop/hotel/hospital/bus etc. If you were Japanese you were white but if you were Chinese you were not. When issuing identity numbers, if someone was unable to determine your race, the pencil test would be employed. A pencil would be pushed into your hair. If it fell out you were white, if it stayed in you were not. If you had a relationship with someone from another race, your entire family would be reclassified to the darker colour. From the early 1980s Black South African people were not actually citizens of South Africa. They were stripped of their South African citizenship and made to live in reserves (aka ‘homelands’) until the law was repealed. What makes it all so shocking is that white people make up only 8% of the South African population, yet they imposed this horrendous system on 92% of of the population.
Under the 1950 Population Registration Act, each inhabitant of South Africa was classified into one of several different race groups, of which White was one. Many criteria, both physical (e.g. examination of head and body hair) and social (e.g. eating and drinking habits, familiarity with Afrikaans or a European language) were used when the board decided to classify someone as white or coloured. This was extended to all those considered the children of two White persons, regardless of appearance. The Act was repealed on 17 June 1991.
My father used to work in a paper factory and part of his job was analysing clay samples which he collected from quarries and surrounding land. He had olive skin and would go really dark in the sun, particularly as he worked outside so much. In order to prove his race he had to pull down his trousers and show his bottom (the only place that would not have been tan). This must have been so hard for a man like my father who was very very conservative. I never saw him without clothes on but he often had to pull his pants down in front of me in order to enter the white entrance in a shop, or sit down at a café. How hard that must have been for him.
A South African apartheid era identity number would have looked like this
630621899908
and was constituted as follows
- date of birth (in this case 21 June 1963)
- gender (0 – 4999 for female, 5000 – 9999 for male)
- citizenship (0 for South African, 1 for right of residence)
- race (there were 8 races)
- control number
You had to carry a so-called Book of Life with you from when you were 16 years old. The large blue one above is an older one (my father’s) and contains the following:
- birth certificate
- photos taken of you as you aged and changed
- driver’s licence
- endorsements on driver’s licence
- allergies
- vaccinations and immunisations
- blood group
- medical information
- illnesses and disorders
- marriage certificates
- details of divorce
- gun licences
- voting record
- postal address
- residential address
- death certificate
The smaller green one above (belonging to me) is a new one and contains:
- birth details (no racial information in the identity number)
- driver’s licence (cards are now used)
- gun licences
- postal address
- residential address
There is no longer any racial element to the identity number. The last numbers still exist, but are now without meaning. I was issued three new last numbers when apartheid was abolished.
If you wished to be in another area from that in which you were allowed to be, you had to apply for permission, as shown below.
There was a referendum in South Africa in 1992 where white people voted to abolish apartheid. Luckily almost 70% voted yes.
This is why I get so angry when people say ‘it’s like apartheid’. Very few people today know what apartheid actually was and how deeply it was constitutionalised. Institutionalised racism was used to systematically keep races apart and it stripped black people of citizenship of their own country. Like the Holocaust, we must never EVER forget it so it will never happen again.
NOTE: new information regarding finding old ID numbers from the wonderful Lee, who knows their stuff!
South African Home Affairs will NOT under any circumstances accept or deal with an old ID card or number to accommodate marriages or death certficates. From 1981, every SA changed the system to include the 13 digit number as the new form of Identity (Blue Book). If deaths occured for an individual before 1981, they would not have had the new ID number, therefore the only acceptable place to consider verifying their Birth Marriage or Death, would be via the Baptism record (authentication require) or Death estates. This can be accessed from the various provincial archives databases in the country or from the church archives – if you know what religion they worshipped. I believe you will need to prove in this way that you were born in SA (if an adult) to apply for the 13 digit ID number. Please note that it is an expensive process as all documents required by SAHA (SA Home Affairs) will need to be notarised or legally authenticated. I am a researcher and Genealogist. Hope this helps.
Hi Janet, I’ve never renewed my passport since it was issued in 1981. I have the 13 digit number. When I try to go on the home affairs site BABBS and make an appointment with my ID number it says not found. Just so I understand fully, would this be because around 2013 they updated their new system and perhaps my ID number is not entered into the new system along with new smart card and biometrics? Ive tried several times to contact the office and no answer. Trying to figure out how I approach this when I walk into a Home affairs office. Any tips would be helpful.
Do you have your new ID number in your barcoded book of life or ID card? Have you tried with your old ID number and your new one? The only thing I would suggest (and I know it is a pain) is that you go to your local Home Affairs office and deal with someone face to face.
Thanks Janet for replying. I do not have my old passport or ID book. My parents left SA when I was 5 yrs old in 1987, all I have is my birth certificate and ID number on it. I have a trip planned for March 10th in two weeks. I understand I can not get an appointment because I do not have a SA mobile number and cannot make one online so I will just walk into a home affairs office, wait it out and hopefully its just a matter of updating my ID number and doing biometrics and start the passport process. Does this sound about right?
Ah, if that is the case you are probably not a South African citizen anymore, which is why you could not find your number. In that case you will not be able to get a passport. You need to be granted permission from the government to take out another citizenship than South African, and if you do not have that you will retain permanent residency but not be a citizen. Do you have a South African address? If not, you will probably be able to have an ID book but not an ID card. Are you a citizen of another country? You can also do all these things through a South African embassy in the country in which you live. They are pretty helpful. Way more helpful than Home Affairs in my opinion.
Hi Janet,
Not sure if you can help. If I still have a pass number of my mother and father would I be able to trace their current ID numbers?
I am sure they must be held in the archives of the Home Affairs Department.The first step should be to contact them and ask them if they are able to help you. I hope this helps.
I was one of the South Africans to vote YES to handing the country over to the ANC, so in no way accept the former system as it was very unjust. I am bemused, however, that you have a lot to say, whilst living in Sweden. Why not come stay here and experience the crime, corruption and destruction since 1994.
I am actually in South Africa at the moment because my entire family, including my mother lives here, in the poorest province. I spend a lot of time here, though covid meant we were unable to travel in 2020 and 2021. I am perfectly aware of the situation, but thank you for your opinion. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment.
Hi Janet,
Please help i need guidance on how to proceed.
My mums greed ID book was stolen with the jewelry .
I have the Black ID need to round up the estate.
Your Thoughts.
Thanks
Anu
Her black ID book should have her old ID number and place of birth etc. You could probably take that to Home Affairs with the police report of the theft, and have a temporary ID for her issued to close the estate. At the very least, Home Affairs should be able to tell you how to proceed. Good luck!
We have tried to locate my grandfathers details who passed in the 70’s. home affairs apparently have no system to use the old ID system as they are adamant they all have a new 13 digit number,
That does not make any sense, surely? Did they issue every single dead person with a new identity number? How on earth are their families supposed to know what it is? I certainly was not notified in the case of my parents.
South African Home Affairs will NOT under any circumstances accept or deal with an old ID card or number to accommodate marriages or death certficates. From 1981, every SA changed the system to include the 13 digit number as the new form of Identity (Blue Book). If deaths occured for an individual before 1981, they would not have had the new ID number, therefore the only acceptable place to consider verifying their Birth Marriage or Death, would be via the Baptism record (authentication require) or Death estates. This can be accessed from the various provincial archives databases in the country or from the church archives – if you know what religion they worshipped. I believe you will need to prove in this way that you were born in SA (if an adult) to apply for the 13 digit ID number. Please note that it is an expensive process as all documents required by SAHA (SA Home Affairs) will need to be notarised or legally authenticated. I am a researcher and Genealogist. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for this. I really really appreciate it. I have so many people come to my little blog through desperate Google searches and it is nice to know they will now have the correct information. I will add this to my blog now.
Totally a nightmare to get a death certificate for my late grandfather who passed on during the late 70’s in south africa…..only document I have is the dompass card with 9 digit and K number at the end ( classified as coloured during the apartheid era ). We as the great grandchildren are unable to transfer his estate as no will was drawn up prior to his death.
That is awful. I am so sorry this happened to you and your family
my Granny was 331/544219 ? She was born in Germany This ID was used on her Death, she lived in SWA and then SA – How do I find her “New” SA Number I have tried Home Affairs but she died in JHB 16 May 1965 So where are the records kept?
New SA identity numbers only came in the 1990s, so if your granny died in 1965 she would never have been issued a new one. All her records will be under her original number and probably held at Home Affairs.
Janet you are totally incorrect. SA Home Affairs do not under any circumstance act as a document retrieval or archive dept. If there are any records that may offer assistance to a person trying to obtain an ID number after 1981, the only place to search would be the archives in the province that family or person resided – and you would need to find their Death Notice / Estate or Civil Information of Death document. ID numbers are not easy to find before 1981. South Africa became a Democracy in the early 1990s, but the ID system became more technologically advanced, it did not then introduce the 13 digit ID number, this was done in 1981. Please advise people on the correct information which you should be aware of.
Thank you for this very valuable information. I am not an expert at all and never ever set out to advise people. I am just a former resident of South Africa writing about my own experiences. Desperate people find my blog and ask me because they do not know where to turn. I suggested Home Affairs because they provided me with vault copies of my birth certificate as well as information about my parents (vault copies of marriage and death certificates). Your information is very useful so I am going to add it to my blog post. Thank you again!
Now added. I am so grateful for this information.
Hi there. I have been trying to find my father. I have never met him and I am 57 years old. All I have is his old SA ID nr. How do I go about getting the latest format? I got the old ID nr from the marriage certificate with my mother
Do you know if he is still alive? You could contact Home Affairs with his old number and ask them, although they may not be allowed to release those details.
Hi Janet Carr , my name is dale mark
could you super please help look for information on my dads old id card .
i humbly beg you please
dalomarco20@gmail.com
0683220539
Hello Janet ; I’m trying to find my father’s old Book of Life number (old ID number prior to 1986) but don’t know where to search for it. Can you help?
Hi, you say black people were not South African citizens which is true. But then you say that were stripped of their citizenship. So at what point were they actually citizens? My research going far back suggests that black people were once only in the eastern part of South Africa after they won land following 7 wars against the English… I’d like to hear your views on this..
To see it in writing like that is still quite a shock that they would take it to such a detail about the activities permitted. When did you leave S.A.?
February 1999.
A huge system was built keeping the races apart. It is quite scary how it permeated everything.
The cold facts of the number and its meaning in South Africa tells such a tale – just the facts and so hard. Thank you for sharing this, Janet. The more we all know, the more it may not happen again. Lest we forget.