Social, ethics and transformation report

The social, ethics and transformation committee operates under defined terms of reference set out in its charter and the authority granted to it by the board. These terms of reference guide the agenda and activities of the committee.

Committee membership comprises:

  • A non-executive director as chair – Maya Makanjee was appointed chairman in August 2015 after Bheki Sibiya resigned from that role
  • Two non-executive directors – André Parker (resigned in February 2015), Makhup Nyama (appointed in May 2015), Bheki Sibiya
  • CEO, Peter Matlare.

Executives responsible for human resources, supply chain, legal services and corporate affairs attend and report at meetings. The legal, compliance and regulatory department acts as the secretariat.

The committee meets at least three times during the year. Details of attendance are on page 69.

Broadly, the committee is tasked with overseeing the good corporate citizenship of the group on behalf of the board. This includes the focus areas of:

  • Delivering socio-economic value
  • Promoting social and economic development
  • Promoting nutrition security through the Tiger Brands Foundation
  • Creating value for communities through our integrated corporate social investment programme
  • Driving enterprise and supplier development
  • Stimulating economic growth by initiating smallholder farmer programmes
  • Developing and building a stakeholder framework for enhanced stakeholder relations.

In South Africa, we actively partner with government to drive socio-economic transformation, aligned with the country’s national development plan and associated initiatives focused on smallholder farmer development, agro-processing, nutrition and in-school feeding schemes and food security. These focus areas all contribute to economic development.

In 2015, we signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to develop smallholder farmers in five provinces in certain key primary commodities for Tiger Brands’ sourcing requirements. We will provide these farmers with market access through offtake agreements for their produce. In addition, we will provide technical expertise, business support and mentorship (page 59).

Our five-year B-BBEE strategy, in line with the revised codes, was approved by the board for implementation (page 58).

Activities during the year

During the year, the committee considered reports on:

  • Manufacturing excellence initiatives (environmental)
  • Sustainability (safety, environmental, supply chain)
  • Human resources (global standards, transformation, employment equity, skills development)
  • Compliance and regulatory matters affecting the group and its operations
  • Consumer care line trends
  • Corporate social investment programmes
  • Tiger Brands Foundation programmes
  • Stakeholder relations
  • Investor relations.

It also reviewed the company’s performance relative to:

  • Employment Equity Act
  • Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act and implications of changes to this act
  • Group transformation plans
  • The International Labour Organisation protocol.

Where necessary, the committee brings matters to the attention of the board and reports on salient issues to shareholders at the annual general meeting.

The committee actively monitors aspects such as the prohibition of child labour, forced compulsory labour and discriminatory practices. No human rights incidents were reported during the year. Appropriate board committees or other structures in our operations outside South Africa report back on these aspects before each committee meeting.

The committee ensures that consumer complaints are monitored by executive management, as well as the risk and sustainability committee, in line with the Consumer Protection Act. Over the past four years, there has been a progressive decline in the number of complaints.

Maya Makanjee
Chairman

15 December 2015