“The company has also committed to conducting an internal forensic investigation, the outcome of which will be shared with the city,” he said.
Bokaba said preliminary investigations identified the culprit who formulated the messages.
“The foul messages which, in part, threatened to harm customers, purported to be official correspondence from the city. The City of Tshwane issued an apology last Friday for the foul content of the messages, despite having established that they did not originate from any of its official communication platforms,” he said.
Bokaba said the city apologised out of respect for its valued customers.
“We wish to reassure all our clients, members of the public, together with all other interested stakeholders that our cyber control systems remain intact. All confidential and/or privileged information remains protected. We wish to apologise once more for the foul content of the messages camouflaged to be from the city,” said Bokaba.
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Tshwane confirms an insider sent threatening messages to customers
Image: supplied
The City of Tshwane has identified an employee of one of the service providers contracted to the city for debt collection as the person who sent threatening messages to defaulting customers.
“Please make payment for your city of Tshwane active balance R**. Pay us now otherwise s*** will hit the fan and your a** will burn,” read a text message sent to one customer.
The city's spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the service provider has placed the employee involved on precautionary suspension pending further investigations.
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“The company has also committed to conducting an internal forensic investigation, the outcome of which will be shared with the city,” he said.
Bokaba said preliminary investigations identified the culprit who formulated the messages.
“The foul messages which, in part, threatened to harm customers, purported to be official correspondence from the city. The City of Tshwane issued an apology last Friday for the foul content of the messages, despite having established that they did not originate from any of its official communication platforms,” he said.
Bokaba said the city apologised out of respect for its valued customers.
“We wish to reassure all our clients, members of the public, together with all other interested stakeholders that our cyber control systems remain intact. All confidential and/or privileged information remains protected. We wish to apologise once more for the foul content of the messages camouflaged to be from the city,” said Bokaba.
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