Hi All, I do not think that ID Nos were allocated to SA citizens until about the 1960's. There cannot have been ID nos allocated when there was not even a Centralised Record System for much of SA. Regards Terry Cockcroft terrycoc@xsinet.co.za

ID Cards and numbers were first introduced in 1955/6, and they consisted of nine digits followed by a letter, and were based on where people were living at the time of the 1950 census, so people living in the same house would have consecutive numbers. They were introduced because of the Population Registration Act of 1950, which was intended to establish everyone's racial group, so that apartheid could be applied. It was followed by the Group Areas Act, and similar laws, which reserved certain bits of land for certain groups, and the identity cards were needed to show which group they belonged to. So the letter at the end would be W for white, C for coloured, and A for Asiatic. Blacks didn't have identity cards, but at about the same time "Reference Books" were introduced, which, in addition to the information on the cards, also had information on where they worked, whether they had paid taxes, and whether they were allowed to live in a particular place. In 1970 or thereabouts, Connie Mulder introduced new Identity Books for non-blacks, which were even bigger than the reference books blacks had to carry. New, and longer, ID numbers were introduced, beginning with the date of birth (6 digits) a four digit serial number (beginning with 0 for females, and 6 for males), a two-digit racial classification, and a final control digit. These began to be issued from about 1972 onwards, and had vaccinations, driving and firearm licences, records of voting, blood group, and various other information. They proved too complicated and expensive, and the driving licences were too easily forged (they were just a stick-in slip), and eventually were replaced by much smaller ones. The last three digits were changed - they no longer indicate race group, but citizenship. Heather MacAlister Channel Manager Ancestry24 5th Floor, 11 Adderley Street Cape Town 8001 http://.ancestry24.com Skype: ancestry24 Tel: 021-4064343 Fax: 086-5810390 On 24 Oct 2012, at 19:46, "Terence Cockcroft" <terrycoc@xsinet.co.za> wrote: > Hi All, > I do not think that ID Nos were allocated to SA citizens until about the > 1960's. There cannot have been ID nos allocated when there was not even a > Centralised Record System for much of SA. > > Regards > Terry Cockcroft > terrycoc@xsinet.co.za > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2013.0.2741 / Virus Database: 2616/5850 - Release Date: 10/23/12 This email and its contents are subject to an email legal notice that can be viewed at: http://www.naspers.com/email/disclaimer.html Should you be unable to access the link provided, please email us for a copy at csc@optinet.net Hierdie e-pos en sy inhoud is onderhewig aan 'n regskennisgewing oor elektroniese pos wat gelees kan word by http://www.naspers.com/epos/vrywaring.html 'n Afskrif kan aangevra word by csc@optinet.net