Independent assurance report

Introduction

We have been engaged by the Directors of Blue Label Telecoms Limited (“Blue Label”) to perform an independent assurance engagement in respect of selected Identified Sustainability Information included in Blue Label’s Integrated Annual Report for the year ended 31 May 2011 (“the Report”).

Scope and subject matter

The following Identified Sustainability Information was selected for an expression of limited assurance:

Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.

Responsibilities of the Directors

Blue Label’s Directors are responsible for the preparation and presentation of the Identified Sustainability Information, as incorporated in the Report, in accordance with their internally defined procedures (available on request from Blue Label) and for maintaining adequate records and internal controls that are designed to support the reporting process.

Responsibility of PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc

Our responsibility is to express, to the Directors, an opinion on the Identified Sustainability Information contained in the Report, for the year ended 31 May 2011, based on our assurance engagement.

We conducted our engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3 000, Assurance engagements other than audits or reviews of historical financial information issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. This Standard requires that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the assurance engagement to obtain assurance on the Identified Sustainability Information as per the terms of our engagement.

Summary of work performed

Our procedures included examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the Identified Sustainability Information. The procedures selected depend on the assurance provider’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material non-compliance of the Identified Sustainability Information with the criteria.

Our work consisted of:

• interviews with a selection of executives and senior management to discuss their approach to stakeholder inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness;
• inspecting documentation to corroborate statements of management and senior executives in our interviews;
• review of selected documents to substantiate management’s account of their application of the AA1000APS (2008) principles including:
  

  •	selected minutes of Exco and Board meetings, outputs from the risk assessment process, selected media reports, selected policies and general industry benchmarks;
  •	evaluating the data generation and reporting processes against the reporting criteria;
  •	reviewing the GRI summary table (located on Blue Label’s website) to consider management’s declaration regarding the application of the GRI G3 guidelines;
  •	reviewing the consistency between the Identified Sustainability Information and related statements in Blue Label’s Integrated Annual Report for the year ended 31 May 2011.

We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our limited assurance conclusion. Blue Label’s internal corporate reporting criteria, the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G3 guidelines and the AA1000APS (2008) principles standard were applied in evaluating the Identified Sustainability Information.

Inherent limitations

The accuracy and completeness of sustainability data is subject to inherent limitations given the nature and methods for determining, calculating and estimating such data. Qualitative interpretations of relevance, materiality and the accuracy of data are subject to individual assumptions and judgements.

We have not carried out any work on data reported for prior reporting periods nor in respect of future projections and targets. We have not conducted any work outside of the agreed scope and therefore restrict our opinion to the Identified Sustainability Information.

Conclusion

Limited assurance

Based on our work performed, nothing has come to our attention causing us to believe that the Identified Sustainability Information for the year ended 31 May 2011 selected for limited assurance has not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the defined reporting criteria.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.
Director: Wessie van der Westhuizen

Johannesburg
11 October 2011