LIMPOPO MEC for treasury David Masondo has been linked to a tender scam that has allegedly swindled a Limpopo man of more than R200,000
The scam was uncovered after the victim, Emmanuel Munyai, wrote to the department to seek clarity about payment. He was allegedly conned by a man masquerading as a manager for a printing company.
The company allegedly won a tender from the department in January to compile a newsletter to be distributed to municipalities in the province.
According to an affidavit from the department, the alleged conman set up a bogus e-mail address (dmasondo@fastmail.co.uk) to lure people into lending him money to start the project.
"I borrowed R262,400 from my house bond to help with the newsletter project," Munyai said.
He said the conman had claimed to have quoted the department R3,8million and expected payment in July. Munyai started to doubt the owner of the company when he was given the run-around towards payment time, according to a sworn statement in Sowetan's possession.
The department yesterday distanced itself from any dealings with the said company.
"Our investigations have revealed that the man behind the scheme is Phumudzo Makhado. We can confirm that Makhado invented a bogus e-mail address in the name of our MEC, through fraudulent means, in an effort to steal from people," departmental head Nerulal Ramdharie said in a sworn affidavit.
Masondo said he was more concerned about those who became victims of the scam.
He said the department was working with the police to locate the people behind the scam.
Spokesperson for the police in Limpopo, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, said Munyai had opened a case of fraud against Makhado and that treasury had also opened the same case against Makhado for using Masondo's details.