The project to convert the fingerprint records of South African citizens from hard copy to digital format - as part of the Home Affairs National Identification System (Hanis) - is more than two-thirds complete.
"So far, 21.9 million fingerprints have been converted into digital format," says Mantshele Tau, spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs.
Known as the Hanis Back Record Conversion Project, the department says it was initiated to scan and absorb the approximately 30 million hard copy fingerprint records housed by home affairs.
Digitisation of fingerprints is expected to make various processes more efficient, including facilitating automated searching, which will increase search accuracy.
Although government had previously committed to a September 2006 deadline, Tau expects the project to be completed by April next year.
He adds the department is "waiting for a policy decision [on the expected dates] for widespread conversion from ID books to smart cards".
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