THE Greater Giyani Municipality issued a warning against a tender advert that is currently circulating by e-mail to business owners.
The advert, which is purported to be from the Greater Giyani Municipality, requires bidders to bid for the supply of 25 air eco purifiers to the municipality, which cost around R2 000 each.
The advertisement also provides a website address where people can view the type of purifier they need.
Municipal spokesperson, Steve Mavunda, said officials were not sure how the advertisement was circulated, but those who received the ad did so through their private e-mail addresses.
According to Mavunda, the municipality became aware of the advertisement when people started to call to enquire about it.
“The advert looks authentic, even to us who work here.
“The only difference is that the contact person who goes by the name ‘Themba Ndaba’ does not work here. We have no such person working for the municipality,” he said.
Another thing that was odd about the advertisement, he said, was that it required bidders to fill in a document and submit it electronically, which was totally against the municipality’s policy.
“Even though we do put tender adverts on our website, we don’t accept electronic submissions.
“We insist on the originals being submitted,” he said.
Asked how the fraudsters could possibly hope to benefit from this scheme, Mavunda said it was possible that, after completing the documents, bidders would be approached and told to pay a fee if they wanted the tender to be awarded to them.
“We want to appeal to the business community to be cautious when they come across unusual tender adverts such as this one.
“Any advertised tender should have an original document available for sale at the municipality, not online,” he warned.
Mavunda said at this stage the matter was not investigated by the police.
