The Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee has continued to play an important role in assisting Blue Label achieve its purpose through its oversight role and strategic inputs to management and to Blue Label. It is a statutory committee which supports the Board in monitoring Blue Label’s corporate citizenship, environmental, social and governance (ESG), sustainability and ethics. It is governed by terms of reference approved by the Board which detail its duties in terms of the Companies Act 71 of 2008, as amended, the JSE Listings Requirements and King IV, as well as responsibilities assigned to it by the Board.
The Committee has been proactive in performing its duties and in responding to the level of our disclosure requirements which are significant and growing every year. It performed its oversight functions without any hindrance and can report on its activities for the financial year ended 31 May 2023.
As prescribed by the Act, the role of the Committee is to monitor and support Blue Label’s initiatives and programmes regarding:
The Committee’s continued engagement with management has seen the embedding of transformation across Blue Label with a focus on continuous improvement and increasing awareness of the importance of inclusivity. Blue Label has committed itself to meeting its transformation objectives which are continuously monitored and reviewed both at Blue Label and subsidiary level.
In an increasingly complex post-COVID work environment compounded by load shedding and other external factors, focus on business performance while transforming was critical to our operations. We are proud of our engagement results and the resilience of our team in these unpredictable times. Attracting and retaining talent has become increasingly challenging with the evolving changes in the working environment and different expectations. Our foundation is solid, and our people planning framework remains our core focus, ensuring that we build a future-fit organisation. We are moving in the right direction in driving gender equality, and our focus on equity, we see an improvement in the diversity of new appointments, with 87% of new recruits being Black and 69% of females appointed in the organisation being African.
This year we saw progress in job creation and youth development through our efforts in the Trust Blu Foundation. The Foundation has become an important vehicle in escalating and advancing our socio-economic impact initiatives through our own resources and in partnership with other organisations with shared values to make a bigger impact. Blue Label intentionally create employment opportunities for South African young people, and impacted over 4 500 youth through different youth initiatives. Our partnership with SED beneficiaries to improve the impact of its initiatives in the communities has resulted in positive outcomes as seen in our “About Trust Blu Foundation” booklet.
Our health and safety policy sets out our commitment to the physical, mental and social well-being of our staff. It is regularly evaluated by our Blue Label health and safety manager and is in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993 (OHSA). Health and safety plans, evacuation protocols, and other safety procedures are on display at strategic points throughout our offices. Health and safety officers at all subsidiary companies work closely with the Blue Label health and safety officer. We have built on initiatives and lessons learnt during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and have gone beyond the basics of compliance to prioritising the well-being of our employees and other stakeholders visiting our facilities.
A complete gap analysis of Blue Label’s ESG philosophy and policy has resulted in refreshing our approach of measuring and tracking progression in collaboration with Remco. ESG has become an integral part of how we do business and is part of Blue Label’s performance management and reward system. We continue to partner with Enterprise Development organisations to impact poor communities and implement renewable energy sources such as our prime Enterprise Development initiative in Orange Farm in Gauteng.
2024 focus areas
The Committee is pleased to report to all stakeholders of Blue Label that it has fulfilled its mandate as prescribed in its terms of reference and applicable legislation, in particular, the Companies Act and that Blue Label has no instances of material non-compliance to disclose.
Blue Label has continued to uphold its ethical code and conducts its business in line with acceptable standards of ethical behaviour. Management has continued to address and prioritise Blue Label’s BBBEE objectives, notwithstanding the challenges of certain aspects of procurement as we purchase mainly from the networks and power utilities.
The Committee looks forward to reporting on our critical milestones next year.
SJ Vilakazi
Chairman
29 September 2023
Blue Label Telecoms Integrated Annual Report 2023
