"We have tightened our security and computerised systems at all our branches to ensure the passports that are being issued cannot be duplicated by anyone", Mr Apleni said.
He said it was plausible to issue the new passport within the next 12 months to all passport holders. Mr Apleni said this was a vital step in reopening negotiations with the UK home office regarding the lifting of a UK visa requirement on South African passport holders.
Imagine you're a two-day trip away from the nearest doctor and are starting to experience flu-like symptoms, but you're unsure if it's malaria, swine flu or merely a common cold.
Why not just SMS a doctor and be diagnosed over the phone?
By March, you'll be able to do just that.
Telemedicine, as long-distance diagnosing, teaching and monitoring is known, will soon be introduced across the country, said executives of MTN and Sanlam, who have teamed up to develop and launch the technology.
The opposition party says the GSSC's annual report shows the provincial government is failing the unemployed. To address the situation, the centre was mandated to establish job centres in Fox Street, in Johannesburg, and at Maponya Mall.
“The one in Fox Street has been operating for some time; however, I was shocked to discover that the Maponya Mall one is still not yet up and running due to a lack of computer infrastructure. This is an appalling performance from a department that spends over R1 billion a year,” says DA spokesperson for Gauteng finance Mike Moriarty.
Read more: South Africa: Democratic Alliance questions Gauteng Shared Services Centre inaction
This is according to Kevin Meltzer, Consology's business development director, who says: “Life without the convenience of Web-based online service is becoming increasingly hard to imagine."
He explains that self-service has moved from being a niche application to become pervasive across all ICT sectors.
“When Consology started out [ten years ago], the concept of online billing and self-service had yet to even begin to take route in SA outside of selected applications such as online banking,” says Meltzer.
The provincial government recently stopped the outsourced contract, terminating the agreement two years early, after deciding to move the functions in-house under the auspices of the Department of Finance. The decision was the result of a “reprioritisation” process within government.
However, government's move resulted in the contract with Dialogue subsidiary Sibize Calling International, being canned. As a result, Sibize itself is likely to close down, because Gauteng was its largest customer.