National Identity Cards (IDs) for Blantyre District Council which conducted the registration in the third phase arrived on Saturday.

Blantyre District Assistant Registrar George Chitsonga while confirming the development said out of 765,000 people who registered in the district, about 712,000 will receive their IDs.

He assured that the remaining IDs close to 64,000 would come in subsequent batches, saying “distribution will commence soon after we have completed the sorting process.

“64,000 cards would come sometime later since it took time to scrutinize such registrants,” said Chitsonga.

He pointed out that the IDs would be sent to all the registration centres and every individual would have the opportunity to collect the cards within a period of 21 days.

“For those people who will fail to get their IDs within the 21 days, they will collect them from the District Commissioner’s office,” the assistant registrar said.

“However, to avoid anything from delaying the process, security will be a priority especially in potential crime areas,” he assured.

At least 2.2 million people registered during the third phase in the seven districts.