‘E-mail not from MiWay’

Short-term insurance provider MiWay has claimed that a racist e-mail, purportedly by one of its employees describing black people as baboons, is fake.

The e-mail, which caused an uproar on social media, was written about a bogus meeting where potential black clients were discussed by an alleged employee.

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

But MiWay said it investigated the origins of the snapshot and categorically confirmed that the e-mail is fake. “MiWay is a proudly South African company committed to diversity and transparency,” MiWay CEO René Otto said.

“We have been made aware of a racist e-mail purported to have been written and sent by a member of staff. An urgent investigation was launched and we can confirm that the e-mail with its content was never sent from a MiWay employee.

“There was also no such meeting... 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.”

Calling itself reputable, it said the ombudsman for short-term insurance said MiWay’s overturn rate was the lowest of the large insurers.