Just like the old passports had to be replaced with new electronic passports last year, the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has embarked on a project that is going to develop new and more secure national identity cards, the Omang.
The overall objective of the Ministry is to “create and maintain national harmony, welfare and justice and to preserve and promote national culture as an essential background for national unity, democracy and socio-economic development”.
This result therefore comes after the Department of Civil and National Registration received cases of forged ID cards in Gaborone.
Osesenaqa Lekgoko, Assistant Manager, Communications, at the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, confirmed that since 2008, the cases received were four and these involved a Nigerian, two Zambian and two Zimbabwean nationals.
Lerang, a Tlokweng resident, said, “The ministry should act on this project as soon as possible and bring on a card which is more secure. I can imagine the thought of one stealing my Omang and then acquiring a loan with it, so something should be done.”
“We have noticed that once people find their Identity Cards, which they had reported as lost, they do not come back to us to share this information and, as such, the Department accumulates a lot of these ‘uncollected’ cards,’” Lekgoko said.