Public warned against fraudsters posing as municipal officials

“It must be put on record that municipal jobs are not for sale. The Greater Tzaneen Municipality, its councilors, and employees do not sell jobs, and anyone who claims to sell jobs on behalf of the GTM is doing so illegally. Available vacancies in the GTM are filled through a fair and transparent recruitment process. Our vacancies are advertised in local, regional, and national newspapers and on our official website:www.greatertzaneen.gov.za. We want to dispel the notion that jobs and tenders in the municipality are secured through sexual favours or bribes,” said Neville Ndlala, from GTM.

He added that they are very concerned that these scammers mislead desperate members of the public to pay money via instant money transfer at stores to a cellphone number, cash-send, and eWallet for them to get jobs.

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“We call on all victims of these job scams to immediately open criminal cases with the police. We are also investigating the possibility of the involvement of municipal employees in these scams. Any employee involved in these scams will be dealt with decisively. We are going to work closely with the South African Police Services to ensure that we furnish investigators with all information they need to trace these criminals because they are swindling desperate people, denting the image of the municipality,” he added.

He said that they have in the past alerted members of the public about these scams, however, it seems the scams are continuing and more people are falling victim. We urge members of the public to spread this message to as many people as possible.

“It is important to note that these scams come in all shapes and sizes, however, once A person asks for any favours in exchange for a job or a tender, that should be seen as a red flag,” he concluded.