Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says nearly 600 000 identity documents remain uncollected at government offices countrywide.
Schreiber reveals this in a written Parliamentary reply.
The Minister says just over 450 000 of the IDs are part of re-issue applications while more than 142 000 are being issued for the first time.
Home Affairs offices with the most uncollected IDs include Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, Johannesburg and Akasia offices in Gauteng as well as the Cape Town office.
He adds that between April 2019 and 29 July this year, 53 employees have faced disciplinary hearings in relation to the irregular processing of identity documents while 33 employees have been dismissed.
