At a meeting with the Hanover Lay Magistrates Association last week, a suggestion was made to the Minister of National Security that a national identification card should be developed for all adults, which would carry biographic and biometric data.  As part of his response, the Minister commented that the elector identification cards issued by the EOJ was such a system, but that it could only be used for electoral purposes and not criminal investigation purposes because of commitments made at the time of its establishment.  The Minister also pointed out that this commitment could not be changed unilaterally by any administration, notwithstanding that access to such a system would be helpful to criminal investigations.

The Minister stated "to avoid any misunderstanding on this issue, let me make it absolutely clear that this administration has no intention to change the current arrangements governing the use of the voter ID system."