Mbombela - The Mpumalanga Education Department has warned school principals and managers to be on the lookout for a fraudster who masquerades as a provincial government official sent to give computers to schools.
Department spokesman Jasper Zwane said a man, who calls himself J.R Nkosi, phones schools in the Ehlanzeni district and claims they would receive a donation of computers if they deposited R3 000 into a particular bank account.
"The man claims to be employed by the office of the premier or the department. He contacts schools informing them that they are going to receive a donation of computers, but an amount of R3 000 is required for delivery," said Zwane.
"We would like to alert all schools of this ongoing scam. Principals and managers should be on high alert of such occurrences and note that the department or the premier's office will not request payment from schools for donation deliveries," he said.
Zwane said a number of schools around the Ehlanzeni district called the department on Tuesday wanting to confirm the legitimacy of the computer donation and the R3 000 deposit that was required.
He said the man was probably taking advantage of the laptop initiative that the department introduced last year in a bid to give laptops to teachers.
"The initiative is driven by our director of human resource management, J.R Nkosi. So, this man is using Nkosi's name in the scam. We would like to categorically state that J.R Nkosi does not know anything about this," he said.
Zwane did not dismiss the possibility that the fraudster might be working for the department. It could be possible that this man works for the department. Our internal security is working with the police to track down the fraudster," added Zwane.
He said the scam began around October 2010, where another man who called himself "Sipho" used the same modus operandi to defraud two schools in Ehlanzeni.
He said the principal of Empakeni Primary School outside Mbombela lost R3 000 in the scam, followed by Sdungelani Primary School near White River.
Sdungelani was, however, able to get their bank to reverse the deposit.
Zwane said both cases are under investigation.
"We request the public to come forward with information that can help authorities to arrest and prosecute the bogus man or men," he said.
