> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.didit.me/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# South Africa - DHA Photo Retrieval

> Retrieves the registered Department of Home Affairs photograph for a South African ID number. Authoritative real-time identity lookup for South Africa. Real-time lookup, pay-per-call.

<div hidden data-didit-db-validation-defaults="{&#x22;issuing_state&#x22;:&#x22;ZAF&#x22;,&#x22;services&#x22;:&#x22;zaf_dha_photo&#x22;,&#x22;consent&#x22;:&#x22;true&#x22;,&#x22;national_id&#x22;:&#x22;SAMPLE-NID-12345&#x22;,&#x22;vendor_data&#x22;:&#x22;user-1234&#x22;}" />

Retrieves the registered Department of Home Affairs photograph for a South African ID number. Didit exposes this service through `POST /v3/database-validation/` so you can verify the submitted data against the authoritative source and receive normalized match results.

## Coverage

* **Coverage:** —
* **Country:** South Africa
* **Service ID:** `zaf_dha_photo`
* **Data domain:** Biometric
* **Category:** Government

## Inputs

| Field         | Required | Example            |
| ------------- | -------: | ------------------ |
| `national_id` |      Yes | `SAMPLE-NID-12345` |
| `vendor_data` |       No | `user-1234`        |

* **Required inputs:** `national_id`
* **Optional inputs:** `vendor_data`
* **Consent:** Required
* **Workflow availability:** Available in workflow
* **Coverage:** —
* **Price:** \$1.10 per successful query

## Body parameters

<ParamField body="issuing_state" type="string" required default="ZAF" placeholder="ZAF">
  ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for this database service.

  Example: `ZAF`
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="services" type="string" required default="zaf_dha_photo" placeholder="zaf_dha_photo">
  Array containing this service ID. Pinning the service keeps the request scoped to this exact database.

  Example: `zaf_dha_photo`
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="consent" type="boolean" required default="true" placeholder="true">
  Explicit end-user consent for this service.

  Example: `true`
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="national_id" type="string" required default="SAMPLE-NID-12345" placeholder="SAMPLE-NID-12345">
  National identity number for this service.

  Example: `SAMPLE-NID-12345`
</ParamField>

<ParamField body="vendor_data" type="string" default="user-1234" placeholder="user-1234">
  Your stable user reference for this person, such as your internal user ID. Didit uses it to link standalone checks to the same end user and reduce duplicate-detection noise.

  Example: `user-1234`
</ParamField>

## Input rules & validation notes

* Send the fields listed above exactly as captured from the user or document.
* Didit validates required fields before calling the database. Requests rejected before source lookup are not charged.

## How to call it

<RequestExample>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl -X POST "https://verification.didit.me/v3/database-validation/" \
    -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
    -F "issuing_state=ZAF" \
    -F "services=zaf_dha_photo" \
    -F "vendor_data=user-1234" \
    -F "consent=true" \
    -F "national_id=SAMPLE-NID-12345"
  ```
</RequestExample>

<ResponseExample>
  Every successful call returns HTTP `200`. The **`outcome_code`** field tells you what actually happened — distinguishing, for example, a real biometric mismatch (`BIOMETRIC_NO_MATCH`) from a selfie that could not be read (`BIOMETRIC_IMAGE_UNUSABLE`). The `status` shown is the default feature status; your configured [Partial Match / No Match actions](/core-technology/database-validation/database-validation-warnings) can override it.

  **`MATCH`** — The registry confirmed the identity and every checked field matched.

  ```json 200 OK — MATCH theme={null}
  {
    "request_id": "req_01H…",
    "status": "Approved",
    "issuing_state": "ZAF",
    "match_type": "full_match",
    "validations": [
      {
        "outcome_code": "MATCH",
        "service_id": "zaf_dha_photo",
        "service_name": "South Africa - DHA Photo Retrieval",
        "source_data": {
          "birth_place_country_code": "sample_value",
          "deceased": "sample_value",
          "first_name": "John",
          "id_blocked": false,
          "identification_number": "SAMPLE-ID-12345",
          "last_name": "Doe",
          "marital_status": "sample_value",
          "on_hanis_biometric_register": "sample_value",
          "on_national_population_register": "sample_value",
          "photo_base64": "sample_value",
          "smart_card_issued": "sample_value",
          "transaction_number": "SAMPLE-12345"
        },
        "validation": {
          "identification_number": "full_match"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
  ```

  **`NO_MATCH`** — The registry returned no match for the submitted data.

  ```json 200 OK — NO_MATCH theme={null}
  {
    "request_id": "req_01H…",
    "status": "Declined",
    "issuing_state": "ZAF",
    "match_type": "no_match",
    "validations": [
      {
        "outcome_code": "NO_MATCH",
        "service_id": "zaf_dha_photo",
        "service_name": "South Africa - DHA Photo Retrieval",
        "source_data": {
          "identification_number": "NO_MATCH"
        },
        "validation": {
          "identification_number": "no_match"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
  ```
</ResponseExample>

## Returned data

The exact fields surfaced in `source_data` depend on what the registry returns. The generated example for `zaf_dha_photo` currently documents this normalized shape:

* `birth_place_country_code`
* `deceased`
* `first_name`
* `id_blocked`
* `identification_number`
* `last_name`
* `marital_status`
* `on_hanis_biometric_register`
* `on_national_population_register`
* `photo_base64`
* `smart_card_issued`
* `transaction_number`

## Pricing & SLAs

South Africa - DHA Photo Retrieval queries are billed only when Didit receives a conclusive result from the validation source.

* **Per-call price:** \$1.10 USD.
* **Billing:** per successful query. You are not charged when the registry is unreachable, when required fields are missing, or when the request is rejected before reaching the source.
* **Latency:** typical p95 \< 2 s.
* **Availability:** 99.9% per quarter on Didit's side; downstream source availability varies by country and dataset.

## Continue reading

* [South Africa Database Validation overview](/api-reference/database-validation/south-africa)
* [Database Validation overview](/core-technology/database-validation/overview)
* [Outcome Codes](/core-technology/database-validation/database-validation-outcome-codes)