Racial SMS sent to employee was false‚ Mango Airlines says

A text message allegedly sent by a Mango Airlines employee to another staff member saying they should not return to work because they are black and HIV positive has turned out to be fake‚ the airline confirmed on Saturday.

This followed an investigation by the airline’s security department‚ specifically the division specialising in fraud investigation‚ it said.

The airline said it viewed the false allegations made in the SMS seriously and that investigations were continuing to establish the source and origin of the SMS in question.

“Once this is concluded Mango Airlines will seek legal advice in terms of the next steps to be taken in this regard‚” it stated.

The text message‚ in the form of a screengrab posted on social media that went viral‚ came from someone saved as “Mandy HR Mango” in the recipient’s phonebook.

The message read: “Mango cannot allow you to work with us‚ you are black and HIV positive. That is just too much for us.”

Mango said the investigation team had worked together with third-party forensic investigators to issue the following findings:

• On the screenshot posted on social media it has been noted that “Mandy” has been saved as “Mandy HR Mango”‚ it is to be noted that “Mandy” is not in the HR Department.
• The employee was interviewed with regards to the racial SMS in question and indicated that she had no knowledge of the SMS in question and never sent such an SMS.
• A forensic investigation was conducted on the employee’s handset by an external cell phone analysis company. No evidence was found suggesting that the SMS message in question originated or was sent from the employee’s handset.
• Itemised billing from the mobile service provider was obtained and it was analysed. No evidence found on the itemised billing suggesting that this employee’s number or SIM sent the SMS in question.