Social and Ethics Committee report

“The Committee continued to drive transformation, sustainability and ethics initiatives to secure our ongoing licence to operate. We are particularly pleased with the Group’s achievement of a Level 2 B-BBEE status for the first time.”

Mandate

The purpose of the Social and Ethics Committee is to support the Board in discharging its oversight responsibilities regarding how the Group does business according to its values, ethical standards and social responsibility. As per the Companies Act, the Committee’s duties include overseeing social and economic development, good corporate citizenship, the environment, health and public safety, consumer relationships, and labour and employment.

Attendance and composition

Members Invitees Relevant skills profile of members

Chairman

  • AK Maditse (3/3)

Members

  • CH Boulle (3/3)
  • DP Hele (3/3)
  • N Halamandaris (2/3)
  • B Mathe (1*/3)
  • Group HR Executive
  • Group Executive: Business Development
  • Group Risk Executive
  • Group Transformation Manager
  • Company Secretary
  • Group Financial Director
 Committee members are highly skilled in governance, law and sustainability reporting.
* Busi Mathe was appointed as a member of the Social and Ethics Committee on 3 November 2022.

Oversight areas

The Committee, together with the Social and Ethics Working Group (made up of the executives of the Group), have adopted best practices for this Committee as recommended by the IoDSA. This includes King IV, the Companies Act, the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact and legislation related to the economy (including fraud and corruption), workplace matters, environment and society (including stakeholder relations).

At Famous Brands, we consider social and ethics matters in five major categories, namely:

  • Social, health and the environment.
  • Human capital and employment equity.
  • Preferential procurement.
  • Community development and CSI.
  • Governance and compliance.

Reconsidering the SDGs

In 2023, we reconsidered SDGs with the view that not all selected SDGs align with our business. The Committee is considering the appointment of an external consultancy with SDG expertise to help us establish a sustainability framework we can use to select the right SDGs and targets and define achievable and meaningful goals. This consultancy works with a broad range of companies across multiple industries allowing us to leverage their experience and benchmark ourselves against industry leaders. We believe that this is an important step to propel us forward.

Read more about our contributions to the SDGs.

Ensuring appropriate ethics governance

Famous Brands has implemented the following measures to ensure that we adequately govern and manage ethics within the Group:

  • Policies related to ethics were published on the Group intranet.
  • Whistle-blowing Policy is in place together with channels to report unethical activity.
  • Regular internal communications campaigns on topics related to values and ethics.
  • Training for managers and executives.

Focus areas for 2023

The Committee and the Social and Ethics Working Group worked on the following matters:

General
  • Reviewed and approved the Committee Charter and annual Committee workplan.
  • Reviewed and accepted management’s feedback (based on relevant legislation and best practice) regarding the Group’s activities relating to:
    • Social and economic development.
    • Good corporate governance.
    • ESG matters.
    • Consumer relationships.
    • Labour and employment.
  • Reviewed and recommended the non-financial disclosures contained in the IAR to the Board for approval.
Social, health and the environment
  • Monitored progress against the approved targets for the selected SDGs identified.
  • Monitored our health and safety procedures against globally accepted best practices.
  • Monitored enhanced food safety measures across the business through the new food safety effectiveness system.
  • Reviewed safety reports related to injuries and fatalities and agreed on comprehensive management reports to include near-miss incidents.
  • Evaluated management plans and their progress on projects related to:
    • Measures to monitor and improve our water and electricity consumption and report this data.
    • More environmentally friendly packaging options.
    • Initiative to reduce food waste.
    • The implementation of a new coffee recycling initiative (read more on 105).
Governance and compliance (read more)
  • Monitored POPIA compliance and increased POPIA awareness among employees and actions to improve data protection compliance in other markets.
  • Monitored the implementation of a software tool to support compliance with AARTO and the implications of this tool for disciplinary processes for drivers employed by Famous Brands.
  • Monitored the Group’s compliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility legislation.
  • Monitored the implementation of the Competition Law Compliance Policy and competition law awareness.
Human capital and employment equity
  • Reviewed and reported to the Board on the Group’s employment equity performance relative to the Group’s Employment Equity Plan, which was set out in the annual Employee Equity Report submitted to the Department of Labour.
  • Reviewed and considered the employment equity targets agreed with the Department of Labour in the context of broader diversity objectives for the Group. This included the approach for recruiting people with disabilities and the process to help existing employees identify and report their disabilities.
  • Gave input into the revised people with disabilities learnership programme.
  • Considered the possible implications of the Employment Equity Amendment Bill, effective 1 September 2023.
  • Noted the progress made with wage negotiations and relationships with the various trade unions.
  • Noted the report on the Group’s Code of Ethics and policies regarding gifts, conflict of interest, fraud and whistle-blowing.
  • Noted the results of the ethics assessment and monitored the progress of ethics training across the Group.
  • Noted the whistle-blowing cases monitored and investigated.
  • Noted the results of the annual employee survey (Voice your View).
Preferential procurement

  • Oversaw the implementation of the Group’s transformation strategy, including enterprise and supplier development projects and preferential procurement.
  • Reviewed and reported to the Board on the Group’s detailed B-BBEE strategy, targets and budget, and progress made aligned to the scorecard.
Community development and CSI
  • Approved the Group’s CSI activities, provided the Board with updates on existing CSI projects and progress achieved, and recommended new proposed projects

Focus areas for 2024

Famous Brands is active in the communities where we operate. A major improvement area is communicating better regarding our community involvement and contributions to the economic development of our operating territories. As a Committee, we will continue encouraging management to drive regular communications regarding our CSI work, sports sponsorships and community development.

Other key focus areas for the Committee for 2024 are:

  • Overseeing wage negotiations with unions.
  • Recommending and approving CSI projects for 2024.
  • Development of a Sustainability Framework and an Environmental Programme, Strategy and Plan.
  • Securing expert assistance with our SDGs selection, goal setting, monitoring and reporting.
  • Overseeing our transformation strategy to maintain our Level 2 B-BBEE status.
  • Monitoring safe performance with a focus on leading indicators such as training, communications campaigns and compliance with safety protocols.

The Committee is satisfied that it has fulfilled its responsibilities in accordance with its terms of reference for the year. I will be present at the AGM to answer any questions regarding the statutory obligations of the Committee.

Alex Maditse

Chairman: Social and Ethics Committee

21 June 2023