MiWay fake racist email writer asks for forgiveness

Insurance company MiWay has accepted the apology of the writer of the ‘racist’ email that went viral on social media last week.

The writer made the post to look like it was sent by the company to a client.

The email read: “This is a reminder of yesterdays managers meeting. The final decisions was to reject 90% of claims made by black people as from 1 August 2017. They are an easy target, its also a great opportunity to save money and punish these black baboons.”

Earlier this week, the company confirmed that the email was fake, and said it has found the writer after a forensic investigation.

On Friday, MiWay released a joint statement with the writer of the email, Mondli Madlala.

“The writer of the post, former MiWay client Mr. Mondli Madlala, was identified in an independent forensic investigation into the incident. After having a claim legitimately rejected by MiWay and subsequently by the Ombudsman for Short-term Insurance, he used a MiWay mail to generate a false and defamatory mail containing racist remarks and making false allegations about MiWay’s claims handling policies,” the company said.

MiWay said its CEO, René Otto, and head of marketing and brand, Nthabiseng Moloi, had a meeting with Madlala yesterday, where he apologised.

Madlala stated he had experienced no racism in his interactions with MiWay or its staff.

“MiWay recognises that it could have done better in its communication with the client, which possibly could have contributed to Mr Madlala’s dissatisfaction.

“It must be noted that this did not affect the merits of the case. He was given the option to make a public apology or face legal action, and today he agreed to a joint statement with MiWay, regretting his actions,” the company said.

He apologised to MiWay for bringing the company into disrepute, and to the two employees who received hate mail and death threats as a result of his actions.

“I apologise sincerely for my actions. I acted impulsively and without any thought to how this post would spiral out of control. I have learnt how dangerous social media can be, if misused, especially in South Africa. I also realise that I put the two MiWay employees in danger, and I plan to meet with them, to apologise again in person,” Madlala said.

He has also agreed to give talks in six schools in MiWay’s CSI initiative, the MiHeart Project, about the dangers of social media.

The company revealed that the two MiWay employees implicated have accepted the apology and would also not press any charges against him.

“Our objectives in investigating and pursuing this matter were to prove our innocence, protect the staff members who were falsely implicated, and not act in way that would further fuel the racial divide.

“We accept Mr. Madlala’s apology and we hope that this is a lesson to many people that you can’t get away with something like this. We trust that this matter has now been laid to rest,” Otto said.