Social, ethics and transformation committee report

 

During the review period, this committee made significant progress in refocusing Tiger Brands on its societal capital and the shared value we create for our stakeholders. As a starting point, we commissioned our baseline stakeholder engagement survey for an informed view on perceptions, needs and expectations of all material stakeholders as we plan for the coming year.

Maya Makanjee, Chairman

This study, detailed here, has highlighted some areas that will need concerted focus in the next year and which will inform our longer-term stakeholder engagement strategy and plans. In general, stakeholders are satisfied with the quality of our engagement but would like to see more structured, responsive, purposeful and continuous interaction. We will pay particular attention to this in FY18.

Our socio-economic development strategy was revised to move Tiger Brands further from our historical charitable approach, mainly providing food hampers to needy communities, to sustainably developing our beneficiaries through capacity building, community enterprise development and community and household food gardens. We believe these programmes will take beneficiaries closer to reaching food security and becoming self-sustaining. They also provide a solid potential for creating viable and flourishing communities.

The Tiger Brands Foundation, supported through dividends from Tiger Brands, continues to deliver excellent results from what is fast becoming an international flagship project – the in-school breakfast programme. This is recognised by the Global Child Nutrition Forum and the Department of Basic Education as the best model for school nutrition programmes. We will continue to work with these entities to see how best to share this model with the rest of the continent. Engagements are currently taking place with neighbouring countries.

An ongoing concern for the committee is the safety of our bakery drivers. Experts have reviewed the effectiveness of existing driver safety initiatives and we will continue to investigate possible solutions for a cashless bread delivery system to reduce the number of incidents.

In the new year, we will focus on embedding programmes that will contribute to creating a great place to work, including diversity and inclusion. We will implement recommendations from the gender commission and continue to train and develop our employees to their fullest potential.

As a statutory committee of the board, the social, ethics and transformation committee fulfils its duties against the requirements of sections 72(4) and (5) of the Companies Act 2008 and regulation 43 of the Companies Regulations 2011. In addition to ensuring legislative compliance, the committee applies the principles of good corporate governance as per King IV in fulfilling its functions. King IV asks companies to adopt a mindset of self-regulation rooted in broader socio-economic consciousness. Accordingly, the committee oversees the company's performance in terms of mindful adoption of good corporate citizenship as the mechanism to create value for all stakeholders, while generating growth for the business. The committee oversees the company's social and ethical performance through its monitoring and reporting function to the board, and provides guidance to the CEO and directors on improving performance in these domains.

Particular areas of oversight include:

  • Social and economic development activities
  • Organisational ethics
  • Transformation
  • Responsible corporate citizenship
  • Environment, health and safety
  • Labour and employee relations
  • Consumer relations.

In the review period, the committee comprehensively reviewed its terms of reference to align with King IV. Key revisions included:

  • Roles, duties and authority of the committee
  • Management of meetings and resolutions
  • Reporting procedures
  • Evaluating performance.

These amendments ensure the committee's optimal performance in discharging its duties appropriately, and eliminate duplication between its oversight role relative to the responsibilities of the operational ethics committee and risk and audit committees.

Membership and attendance

View Corporate governance.

Outline of activities

For the review period, the committee:

  • Conducted a stakeholder engagement survey to measure the health of the company's engagement with its material stakeholders
  • Reviewed and monitored implementation of initiatives to comply with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act
    • We expanded the inclusion of small-scale farmers into our supply chain and made progress on our smallholder farmer programme, implemented with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2016
  • Monitored the adoption of good governance practices and policies to ensure the elimination of corruption in line with Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) anti-corruption principles
    • Provided oversight on the roll out of compulsory competition law, as well as anti-bribery and corruption, training for employees. The latter two topics will extend to board members
  • Reviewed relevant policies to support and respect internationally proclaimed human rights laws and ensure the group is not complicit in human rights abuses (United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) principles 1 and 2)
  • Monitored the group's activities to promote equality and eliminate unfair discrimination in its business dealings:
    • The diversity and inclusion programme monitors progress on gender representation and inclusion of people with disabilities
    • Management hosted disability sensitisation and voluntary disclosure workshops, attended by 359 employees, with 32 voluntarily disclosing disabilities
  • Reviewed and monitored the group's contribution to developing communities:
    • Promoting sustainable community development through the socio-economic development strategy
    • Food and nutrition security programmes and their reach and impact
    • Monitoring the impact of the Tiger Brands Foundation through the in-school breakfast feeding programme
  • Monitored the record of sponsorships, donations and charitable giving
  • Monitored the company's initiatives in reducing carbon emissions
  • Reviewed and monitored the group's standing in terms of the International Labour Organisation's protocol on decent work
  • Monitored the adequacy of group mechanisms in eliminating forced and compulsory labour as well as child labour (UNGC principles 4 and 5)
  • Reviewed and monitored the group's industrial relations climate and union engagement (UNGC principle 3)
    • Received satisfactory updates on workshops to build capacity in industrial relations negotiations
    • Received updates on the industrial relations environment at all sites to identify and manage related risks by understanding the levels of union representation at each site
    • Received updates on the progress of wage negotiations. These have been concluded successfully
    • Ensured comprehensive management plans were in place to safeguard employees at sites where strike action was under way. There were no incidents of damage to property or equipment, and employees were unharmed
  • Reviewed and monitored elimination of unfair discrimination in employment and occupation (UNGC principle 6)
  • Reviewed and monitored compliance with the Employment Equity Act
  • Reviewed and monitored training and development of employees
  • Monitored compliance with consumer protection laws
  • Reviewed the company's approach to preventing, detecting and responding to fraud and corruption
  • Reviewed the regulatory and compliance universe relevant to its areas of responsibility
  • Engaged with the risk committee on the matters monitored by that committee on its behalf
    • Safety and health focused on the reduction of safety incidents involving our bakery drivers by exploring initiatives to remove cash from bread delivery vehicles
    • Received reports on the behaviour-based safety programme designed to reduce LTIFR at our manufacturing sites
    • As part of the environmental sustainability oversight, received reports on programmes to reduce the impact of our operations on energy efficiency, water consumption, waste minimisation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
  • Reviewed the company's position and engagement approach in terms of the Tiger Brands submission to National Treasury on proposed taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages
  • Reviewed the group's code of ethics, which has been amended to include members of the Tiger Brands board
  • Considered and approved updated policies:
    • Group code of ethics
    • Anti-bribery and anti-corruption
    • Gifts, entertainment and hospitality
    • Declaration of interests
    • Group stakeholders management.

Tiger Brands is committed to ensuring that its principles on ethics are implemented across the company. The committee will continue to monitor processes and policies to ensure compliance. It is satisfied it has considered and discharged its responsibilities for the financial year in line with its terms of reference, King IV and the Companies Act.

On behalf of the committee

Maya Makanjee

Chairman – Social, ethics and transformation committee

28 November 2017