BEING A RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Our group is overseen by strong governance structures, from the KAP board of directors to our divisional board and management structures, as outlined in our corporate governance report and governance framework. It sets out our framework for ethical business practices, governance, risk management and internal control. Our policies and procedures are set at a KAP level, which includes approval by the board of directors, and adopted at a divisional level and ensure that we have high standards in place for core issues such as ethics, anti-bribery and corruption, human rights and responsible tax practices. More detail can be found in our corporate governance report and our group policies.

COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS AND REGULATIONS

We have divisional compliance trackers to assess the status of legal compliance with applicable material legislation in relation to the operational activities at divisional facilities, based on the regulatory universe applicable to a division. Any potential areas of non-compliance are detailed and discussed at divisional audit and risk committee meetings and monitored at the KAP compliance committee meetings.

Regarding environmental compliance, we follow a robust process of reporting and mitigating environmental incidents, including any deviations from legal requirements. Our approach is based on an incident classification system which includes assessing incidents based on their potential to create significant degradation to or pollution of the environment. We collaborate with the authorities on environmental inspections conducted at our facilities. Our responses to findings include key remedial interventions aimed at sustaining compliance.

The group was compliant with all applicable legislative requirements during the year.

ETHICAL CONDUCT

Our code of ethics

Our business conduct is underpinned by our code of ethics, which is explained to permanent employees during their induction process and must be signed by them as a condition of employment. Our code of ethics deals with the core ethical principles of the group, which includes legal compliance, conflicts of interest, gifts, anti-bribery, political contributions, accurate financial record keeping, ethical dealings, human rights and labour practices, health and safety, confidential and proprietary information, environmental stewardship and insider trading. Our code of ethics is supported by separate policies, including our human rights policy, ethics line policy, supplier code of conduct and environmental policy. These policies are available on our website and contain further detail on what we deem acceptable and ethical behaviour in both our own operations and supply chain.

Human rights

Our group subscribes to the principles of human rights as expressed through the following human rights standards and instruments:

Our human rights policy encompasses the following human rights principles:

We require our suppliers to adhere to human rights principles, as outlined in our supplier code of conduct and included in all new contracts. We do not yet do audits to assess our suppliers’ adherence to our supplier code of conduct.

Political contributions

Our code of ethics prohibits political contributions in the group and no direct or indirect contributions were made during the year.

Reporting and monitoring ethical or human rights concerns

We have an anonymous ethics line (web-based, email and phone) through which employees, suppliers and the communities in which we operate can report illegal or unethical behaviour, including mismanagement, discrimination, harassment, vandalism, bribery, corruption, violence, theft and human rights abuses. The ethics line is independently managed and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is available in all official South African languages during working hours (English outside of working hours). The ethics line is confidential and non-retaliatory and is available to both national and international callers. Ethics line activities are reported to our sustainability, social and ethics committee, audit and risk committee and board. The ethics line contact details are available on the landing page of our website and posters are displayed throughout the group, illustrating behaviours that should be reported and encouraging employees to make use of our ethics line.

Every reported incident is logged and investigated by an internal ethics panel. Where incidents are found to be valid, appropriate actions are taken and referred to law enforcement agencies in accordance with the law. The outcomes of the investigations are communicated internally and reported to the sustainability, social and ethics committee, the audit and risk committee and the board.

During the period, 59 ethics line cases were reported, compared with 38 in the prior year. We attribute the increase in cases to increased awareness around the whistle-blowing mechanism and employees wanting to work in an ethical work environment. Investigations have been concluded for 71% of the cases, of which 67% were found to be valid, with investigations into the remaining cases ongoing. Although our code of ethics stipulates what is deemed ethical behaviour in the group, we are in the process of rolling out an ethics training programme across the group to give our employees practical examples.

ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE AND INCIDENTS

An environmental incident is an event that may cause harm or potential harm to an environmental receptor such as air, water, land, wildlife or a local ecosystem; or where our operational practices do not comply with applicable environmental legislation, regulations, standards and applicable codes of practice.

We had three material environmental incidents during the year:

We prioritise the investigation of environmental incidents, followed by the implementation of corrective actions and the strengthening of the control environment. Where necessary, we use learnings to drive behavioural changes at an operational level. We treat incidents that are not resolved as ongoing matters, track the incidents in an environmental compliance register and address these at our divisional audit and risk committee meetings. These incidents are also reported at our compliance committee meetings with a view to ensuring oversight of actions taken.

LABOUR RELATIONS

We nurture the belief that constructive engagement with our employees is critical to the sustainability of our business. We comply with the provisions of applicable labour and employment legislation in all the countries in which our businesses operate. We have established the employment and labour standards compliance committee as part of our combined assurance framework to develop and implement the controls, systems and processes necessary to ensure labour and employment legislative compliance.

We have sound relationships with our key stakeholders, including industry organisations and trade unions, and we create an environment conducive to achieving mutually beneficial outcomes and collective agreements with these unions. We also play a meaningful role in industry structures, including the bargaining council structures and employer associations in the industries in which our divisions operate. Trade union representation in our operations remains stable and continues to form a solid base for employee engagement with approximately 58% of our South African workforce belonging to collective bargaining units.

SOUND TAX PRACTICES

Our tax strategy

Our tax strategy is to pay the correct amount of tax in each of the jurisdictions where the group operates while remaining fully compliant with all applicable tax laws. It is based on the following principles, which are set out in our group tax policy:

Our tax strategy, as underpinned by our tax policy, is approved by our audit and risk committee.

Our approach to regulatory compliance

We seek to have and maintain professional, courteous, proactive, transparent and constructive relationships with tax authorities to minimise the extent of disputes, to achieve early agreement on disputed issues when they arise and achieve certainty, wherever possible.

We seek to provide quick, clear and reliable responses to queries raised by revenue authorities, creating an open communication channel and a cooperative atmosphere. Any errors in submissions are addressed and fully disclosed to the revenue authorities as soon as reasonably possible after they are identified once all facts have been established.

Where disputes cannot be resolved within the applicable dispute resolution framework, justified from a commercial and economic perspective, we will pursue tax litigation.

Tax governance and control framework

Our board has ultimate responsibility for overseeing the group’s tax affairs, with operational responsibility delegated to our CFO, assisted by the tax executive. We manage tax risk in line with our combined assurance framework, following a risk-based approach and considering materiality levels approved by the board.

The centralised group tax function, reporting to our CFO, is responsible for providing operational guidelines aimed at ensuring a robust control environment, implementing risk management initiatives and supporting local management, who is responsible for everyday tax affairs, in all tax matters.

Our approach to public policy advocacy on tax

We are actively involved in the legislative process by commenting on new legislation and guidance issued by tax authorities and by lobbying for legislative change where required, either directly or through representative bodies.

Extent of exposure to countries and jurisdictions recognised for their corporate tax rate, tax transparency and tax haven status

We have a presence in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Australasia. We are not present in countries and jurisdictions recognised for their corporate tax rate, tax non-transparency or tax haven status. We own an investment holding company in Mauritius for expansion into Africa and one in Singapore for expansion into Australasia.

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATIONS AND ACCREDITATIONS