Sanlam manager suspended pending probe into pro-Palestine road rage complaint

Financial services company Sanlam has suspended an employee pending an independent inquiry after a woman opened a case against him with police, alleging he confronted her over pro-Palestine posters displayed on her car.

“Sanlam holds each of its employees and businesses to the highest standards of conduct and values and will not condone any behaviour inconsistent with these,” the company said.

“Considering the seriousness of the allegations made against one of our employees in relation to an altercation with a member of the public over the weekend, Sanlam has formally suspended the employee involved with immediate effect, pending the outcome of an urgent and thorough external independent investigation.”

The two are not being named because the manager could not be reached directly for comment, and the complainant declined to be interviewed when contacted by TimesLIVE. She has since deactivated her public X account on which she had posted her grievance.

The 31-year-old woman had handwritten posters on her car windows reading “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” and “Fight against colonialism, occupation, genocide, boycott Israel”.

She alleged the male motorist shouted abuse at her. 

“I was too scared to take a video. I thought he’d get out of his car and assault me physically,” she said.

After she stopped at a coffee shop, she alleged she found he had keyed her car (when someone deliberately damages your car’s paintwork using a key or sharp object) in view of the parking attendant and shopworkers.

Police spokesperson Sgt Wesley Twigg said: “Cape Town Central police are investigating a malicious damage to property case.

“According to reports, two motor vehicle drivers had an altercation in Hudson Road, Green Point, on January 12 and one driver's car was damaged.”

In her thread on X, the complainant posted: “I believe a right to expression goes with a responsibility that your words are not symbolic of or invoking violence against a group or individual.”

TimesLIVE