“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 in a statement.

Madlala met with MiWay CEO, René Otto, and MiWay Head of Marketing and Brand, Nthabiseng Moloi, on Thursday, and apologised and stated that he had experienced no racism in his interactions with MiWay or its staff, the company said.

“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,” Madlala was quoted as saying.

“I also realise that I put the two MiWay employees in danger and I plan to meet with them, to apologise again in person.”

MiWay said it recognised that it could have done better in its communication with Madlala. The communication could have contributed to Madlala’s dissatisfaction, but does not affect the merits of the case, MiWay said.

“Mr Madlala was given the option to make a public apology or face legal action, and on Friday he agreed to a joint statement with MiWay, regretting his actions. He apologised to MiWay for bringing the company into disrepute, to MiWay employees, especially the two who received hate mail and death threats as a result of his actions, and to the people of South Africa, for stoking racial tensions.”

MiWay said that the two employees implicated by Madlala have accepted his apology and said they would not press any charges against him.

Otto said MiWay would not tolerate any action that served to incite racial disharmony in South Africa.

“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.

MiWay said that Madlala has committed to not contradict the agreement — in part or in full — and acknowledged if he contravened it, MiWay reserved its right to proceed with legal action.

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

On July 20, MiWay denied allegations of racism and questioned the authenticity of a racist email that was doing rounds on social media.

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 e-mail.

“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.

At the time, Otto confirmed that the email was fake and that it was being investigated.

The Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance (OSTI) released its 2016 annual report and MiWay’s overturn rate was the lowest of the large insurers.

Source: SABC