Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, MP has commended the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Hawks for their dedication and commitment to investigating sophisticated criminal syndicate that led to the arrest of nine people involved in Government Departments Request for Quotation (RFQ) and order numbers.

The nine, who appeared in court on Thursday, 3 September 2015 after fraudulently getting hold of Departments supplier databases and then developed fraudulent tendering documents and commodities to be supplied. The syndicate targeted unsuspecting service providers who believed they were dealing with genuine government Departments.

Unsuspecting service providers then deposited money to a company that will manufacture the commodity, only to realize when delivery is not done or when the real Department alert them that they never requested the commodity, that they have been scammed.

The Department of Human Settlements is one of the government institutions that has been largely affected by this illegal activity.

"The dedication of the officers from the SAPS and the HAWKS Unit must be commended, a lot of unsuspecting small contractors genuinely thought they were dealing with the Department of Human Settlements, they lost millions of their hard earned money" Sisulu said.

The Minister added that suppliers must be vigilant at all times and they must check and verify basic things like telephone numbers, emails, and also call our supply chain officers to verify the requests.

"The reality is that some other criminals will try it again, suppliers will have to be vigilant, l also call on the Hawks to arrest any government officials who might have supplied the database of companies to the syndicate" She said.

The Minister has instructed Acting DG Mbulelo Tshangana to review the management of supplier information in the Department.

Enquiries:

Ndivhuwo Mabaya: 083 645 7838

Issues by the Ministry of Human Settlements