SASSA: Government's Foot in the Door

SASSA has officially begun biometric enrolment (which involves fingerprints and facial scans) for new and reviewed beneficiaries as of 1 September 2025.

"Fraud prevention” and “proof of life,” is used as justification for digitising the most vulnerable population...the 28 million South Africans (45% of the country) dependent on grants.

Once their biometric template (fingerprints, facial scan, etc.) is captured, it’s not just SASSA that can use it. That data can easily interlink with other state databases once the National Identification Registration Bill, 2022 becomes law.

This is the same pattern seen globally: the social protection system becomes the testing ground for national digital ID. People accept it because they depend on the grant, not because they consent freely.

The next phase...from “beneficiaries” to all citizens

The National Identification and Registration Bill, 2022, explicitly provides for:

Section 1: “Biometric information includes fingerprints, palm prints, iris images, facial images and any other prescribed biometric characteristic.”

Once this Bill is signed by the President, every South African (10 years and older) will need to be entered into the National Identification Register.

And according to Section 14(3):

“An officer who becomes aware that a person required to be registered is not so registered must take such steps as may be necessary to ensure the person is registered.”

In plain language: if an official finds an unregistered person, even a 10-year-old, they must compel registration.

(That is compulsory biometric registration. That's anti-freedom. Anti-South African. Anti-constitution. Anti-us!)

Constitutional concerns:

This system raises serious constitutional red flags.

It undermines the right to human dignity (Section 10) by treating individuals not as autonomous beings but as data subjects to be tagged, scanned, and tracked. Forcing citizens to hand over their biometric information to access social benefits strips them of meaningful consent and agency.

It also violates the right to privacy (Section 14). The centralised collection and storage of biometric data (especially fingerprints, facial scans, and iris patterns) means the state holds permanent, uniquely identifying information about every person.

The right to freedom and security of the person (Section 12) is also at stake, as compulsory biometric capture infringes upon bodily autonomy. If officials are empowered to “ensure registration” through coercive means, that opens the door to serious abuse.

Finally, there is an issue of equality (Section 9). By starting with grant recipients (South Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens) SASSA effectively makes biometric compliance a condition of survival. This creates a two-tier society: those who can choose, and those who cannot.

To this, we certainly do not consent!

Concerned Citizen(s)

Join the Refuse Digital ID Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Jbl2drLaqOiK5Ru84XSuax?mode=wwt