The Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) is urging the public and business community to be aware of scammers asking people to pay an application fee of R1500 in order for their online funding applications to be considered.
Please do not part with your hard-earned money. DESTEA does not require any fee or payment for the processing or submission of applications or requests for assistance.
The department will soon announce the reopening of the online application system. Furthermore, it must be clearly noted that the department will never request payments to process any application. This is unlawful and will never be a prerequisite to obtain business support.
The community is urged to report any individual masquerading as a DESTEA official and soliciting payments to the nearest police station.
Enquiries:
Mojalefa Mphapang
Department Spokesperson
Cell: 072 274 1734
#ServiceDeliveryZA
