All 195 countries · Southern Africa
South Africa
South Africa issues the Smart ID and is building a Digital ID under the Identification Act: draft rules were out for comment in 2026 and a prototype was unveiled in October. The Reserve Bank is in CBDC experiments.
Digital ID · Goal 16.9
Digital ID in South Africa
- Program
- Smart ID card; Digital ID (Home Affairs)
- Status
- Being built or piloted
- National ID card
- ID card compulsory
- Biometrics
- Yes
- Law
- Identification Act (draft Digital ID regulations, 2026)
Home Affairs published draft regulations on digital ID in 2026 with comment open to 6 June, setting five-year renewal. On 1 October 2026 the minister unveiled the first working prototype. Smart ID replacement is also offered at bank branches. A full public launch date was not confirmed.
Digital money · Goal 8.10
Central bank digital currency
- Status
- Pilot
The South African Reserve Bank has worked on CBDC since 2018 (Project Khokha) and took part in two BIS prototypes.
UN and WHO
How South Africa has voted
- WHO
- Accepted the 2024 rule changes
- Pandemic Agreement (May 2025)
- No recorded objection
- Migration compact (Dec 2018)
- Voted yes
- Paris climate deal
- Party
- SDG Index 2026
- 65.2 · rank 109 of 169
- Progress reports to the UN (VNRs)
- 1
Sovereignty score
How the -2 adds up
Points come only from public, sourced actions we track, scored the same way for every country. It isn't a grade of a whole government. How scoring works →
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Country research checked Oct 2026. Tracker data checked 11 Oct 2026. Every claim links to its source.