Exxaro has recently rolled out its ‘zero-tolerance’ anti-fraud – anti-corruption campaign. The company is powering possibility and protecting stakeholders and employees by investing in further education and awareness on their procurement systems, anti-fraud measures, whistleblower protections, and how to avoid falling prey to tender scams.

Counteracting false tender advertisements that recently circulated in Mpumalanga, Exxaro’s awareness campaign reasserts the company’s commitment to healthy business practices and integrity in order to protect its staff, communities, and the nation.

How Exxaro’s procurement system protects against fraud

The company’s procurement system is a five-stage process involving pre-assessing, pre-qualifying, verifying, developing, and giving feedback to select suppliers.

The anti-fraud campaign urges community members to be vocal and vigilant of scammers advertising tenders in exchange for pre-payment or other kickbacks. Contrary to tender scams, Exxaro’s procurement system ensures:

• All contracts are awarded on a fair and equitable basis, while also promoting affirmative procurement by supporting small and regional business, women, and the socially or economically disadvantaged.
• All new contract bids are accompanied by B-BBEE and localisation plans.
• Sound commercial and operational principles are consistently met.

How tender scams work

There are two common types of tender scams:

• Fraudsters pose as valid suppliers, using fake branded stationery impersonating a known contractor. Shortly after inviting a company to supply goods, they notify said company they have won the tender. The company supplies goods, and the fraudsters disappear, never paying for received goods.
• Fraudsters request a deposit to apply for an existing tender. Once the upfront payment has been made to the fictitious company, the fraudsters become unreachable.

Protecting yourself and the community from scams

Exxaro cautions prospective suppliers, as well as employees and stakeholders, to maintain diligence and become whistleblowers upon witnessing any fraudulent activities internal or external to the company.

The company advocates avoiding scams by:

• Always confirming that requests to tender or quotes that appear to be from Exxaro are indeed legitimate. All official communications from Exxaro employees will only be sent out from an email address with the format name.surname@exxaro.com
• Exxaro will NEVER ask for money to award you a purchase order, to register as a prospective supplier, to include you in an RFQ/FFI or to list you a supplier.
• Registration only happens through our website, where you log on https://www.exxaro.com/suppliers#Prospective-Supplier
• All purchase orders or requests for registration are only sent out from the following email address: donotreply@exxaro.coupahost.com
• You can confirm the validity of any purchase order by sending it to our customer service centre at: vendor.services@exxaro.com or by calling +27 87 283 9705

Common signs emails and other communications are fraudulent include:

• Given contact details differing from official sources
• Any request for a deposit of funds to commence any business transaction
• Email addresses using the wrong domain e.g. gov.org instead of gov.za
• Orders to supply equipment or goods without purchase or order numbers

Exxaro’s sophisticated whistleblower protection system ensures that identities are confidential when reporting incidents of fraud and corruption.

Says Executive Head of Stakeholder Relations, Mzila Mthenjane: “Exxaro is ensuring all employees and stakeholders have total awareness of our zero-tolerance policy regarding fraud and corruption. We’re saying, ‘Don’t support it, report it’ and ensuring we continue to power possibility and protect our staff, suppliers, stakeholders, and the broader community from predatory scams and criminal exploitation.”

Exxaro will NEVER ask you to pay any fee for tenders. Do not accept any offer that asks for a 'registration fee'. Please report any fraudulent and suspicious supply chain adverts to our fraud and ethics hotline: +27 800 203 579 or send an email to exxaro@tip-offs.com