Pretoria – The Department of Public Works is running a campaign that is hoped will fight all forms of fraud and corruption both inside and outside the department.
The campaign is being run under the recently established Governance Risk and Compliance Branch led by the department’s Deputy Director-General Imtiaz Fazel.
Speaking to SAnews on Tuesday, Fazel said the campaign will be rolled out in all provincial departments. He said there would be stricter control on procurement measures, ensuring that all orders that are made will be verified thoroughly before payment is made.
“The service providers will be urged to verify the details of the orders and the name of the official they are dealing with,” he said.
Launching the Anti Fraud campaign, department Director-General Mziwonke Dlabantu said it forms part of the department’s seven-year turnaround strategy that seeks to rebuild the department and rid it of all types of crime.
Dlabantu warned members of the public and service providers of a scam that is being waged by fraudsters pretending to be officials of the department.
“The department is working closely with the South African Police Services to nab these crooks. But we need to caution the suppliers to be extra vigilant so that the scamsters do not swindle them of their hard-earned money
“We urge suppliers to verify order numbers or contact details with our offices before they supply any goods or services. Goods destined for the department should be delivered only to the departmental offices,” he said.
To date, more than 20 companies have fallen prey to the scams and lost more than R26 million worth of goods.
The fraudsters provide or supply fraudulent orders using the department’s letterheads and the names of former or current employees of the department.
Dlabantu said the scam, which has been going on since 2013, is being perpetrated by a syndicate of sophisticated fraudsters who place orders using fake documents.
This year, at least two companies lost a total of R2.3-million worth of goods when they were duped by the fraudsters using fake department documents.
Dlabantu cautioned potential suppliers, who get requests from the so-called department officials to deliver goods to certain addresses, to immediately contact the department or the police.
“We cannot over-emphasize that suppliers should not deliver their goods on the basis of orders sent by the so-called department officials,” he said.
So far the biggest losses through the scam were incurred by a computer company that delivered R18 million worth of laptops to a fictitious DPW address in Mpumalanga; it never received any payment for the goods.
Dlabantu said provinces like the North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga had high incidences of these types of scams.
He said the popular modus operandi is to masquerade as department officials and phone the targeted enterprises claiming that the department has awarded them contracts. They would then fax the forged department order forms to the businesses and request them to deliver the goods to a certain address.
“Once the goods are delivered to the appointed addresses, the fraudsters disappear without paying,” he said.
According to Dlabantu, the fraudsters would sometimes invite unsuspecting companies to bid to provide equipment to the department and thereafter they would request the company to provide documents such as company registration certificates, certified ID documents of Directors, fingerprints of Directors and tax clearance certificates.
Then the fraudsters would award the tender to the winning bidding companies and instruct them to deliver the goods to a specified address.
“The criminals would vanish without paying for the goods. They target businesses that stock laptop computers, office items such as printers and toner cartridges, television sets and cell-phones,” Dlabantu said.
The fraudsters also target businesses that sell building equipment such as disk blades, copper pipes and cutter blades.
According to Dlabantu, early this month, a company delivered R800 000 worth of GPS devices to a fictitious department address and did not receive payments. The order was placed by bogus department officials.
The department has also urged the suppliers to verify order numbers or contact details with the department before they supply any goods or services.
When in doubt, service providers are urged to verify all relevant details with the department on 0800 782 542 or 0800 701701. – SAnews.gov.za
