Short-term insurance company, MiWay, has on Thursday, denied allegations of racism questioning the authenticity of a racist email doing rounds on social media, saying that it was investigating the “fake social media post”
This comes after a screen-grab of an email purporting to have been sent by a MiWay insurance claims assessor, Aarthi Roopnarain to another colleague, containing racist remarks by calling black people baboons.
“Good day Nobu. This is a reminder of yesterday’s managers meeting,” reads the email.
“The final decision was to reject 90 percent of claims made by black people as from 1 August 2017. They are an easy target, it’s also a great opportunity to save money and also punish these black baboons.”
The email caused a social media outcry, with a number of people on Twitter calling out MiWay and saying they will report the company to the Equality Court and the South African Human Rights Commission.
In a responding statement, MiWay chief executive René Otto confirmed that the email was fake and that it was being investigated.
“Leading short-term insurer MiWay has investigated the origins of a snap shot of a supposed email sent from a MiWay employee, circulating on social media. MiWay can categorically confirm that the email is fake,” Otto said.
“MiWay is a proudly South African company committed to diversity and transparency. We have been made aware of a racist email purported to have been written and sent by a member of staff. An urgent investigation was launched and we can confirm that the email with its content was never sent from a MiWay employee,” Otto said.
“There was also no such meeting that took place or decision to this effect. We are tracing the source of this fake content on social media and will take strong and appropriate action against anyone using our brand to disseminate offensive and derogatory comments.”
Otto added that MiWay was a reputable insurance company with an excellent Hellopeter compliment rating.
The Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance (OSTI) released its 2016 annual report and MiWay’s overturn rate was the lowest of the large insurers.
– African News Agency (ANA)
