New drive to prevent passport forgery |11 August 2004

The Canadian made computers, scanners and printers were delivered over the weekend, accompanied by a Canadian technician to train Immigration staff on the use of the new equipment.

The drive to prevent forgeries saw over two million rupees paid for the new equipment and a stock of blank passports, and follows the seizure of a forged Seychelles passport in eastern Europe last year.

The director general of the Department of Immigration, Ronald Fock-Tave, explained that the previous passport printing system had become obsolete and that the new machines would incorporate a range of updated security features.

"We are no longer adding children to passports, it will be one person one passport system, the photos and signatures will be scanned and printed onto the passport and a better laminate will be used to prevent tampering with the passport," said Mr Fock-Tave.

The features on the new passports are in line with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), but do not extend to containing biometric details, such as iris scans or fingerprints.

While the new system is described as amongst the most up to date, Mr Fock-Tave said that due to rapid changes in technology there is no way of giving a definite life span for the machines.

"Some countries are introducing biometrics, we are not for the moment, but in for instance eight years’ time maybe every country will," he said.

The system being replaced by the new machines has been in use since 1997.

The Canadian trainer will pass on skills to five members of staff who will then work at the new equipment to clear a backlog of passport applications which has built up during the wait for the new machines.

According to Mr Fock-Tave the backlog should be cleared in roughly 10 days, after which passport applications should be processed within one week.

The cost of a new passport will remain at R500.