Social, ethics and responsibility committee report

Exxaro has a strong commitment to combating GBV in the workplace. This coincided with the national initiative, undertaken in conjunction with the Minerals Council, the committee approved to recommend to the board a group policy, which would redress racial and sexual harassment in the workplace.

As part of consistent internal racial policy review of diversity and inclusion, focus was placed on our group policy on racism. The organisation has consulted the specialist expertise of a civil rights expert, who advises on process and system improvements, which are continually introduced.

The approach ensures alignment and focused efforts in respect of peer and industry norms in response to human rights, and a broad spectrum of diversity and inclusion.

The year commenced with a targeted focus on employment equity progress to date and an action plan with specific focus on the women agenda and people living with disabilities. The stipulated interventions and deliberate strategies in support of the targeted areas for improvement will be revisited early in the coming reporting cycle.

In partnership with the board committee that looks at remuneration, fair pay or pay parity forms part of the key oversight areas. The driver being the need to address social inequalities and poverty as part of a broader national agenda bearing in mind the company's role as a responsible corporate citizen in the mining sector as a South African black mining house, specifically. The board holds the view that Exxaro forms part of a chain of contributing builders of a society that looked different, felt different and behaved differently.

In this regard, some of the specific measures adopted included:

• The establishment of a task team of functional and technical representatives, nominated by leadership, to review the design and define job families, sub-streams and organisational capabilities to better cluster jobs
• The revision of the structured development policy and associated policies to ensure that it supported career progression
• The documentation of key principles that govern the fair pay implementation programme for consistent application and longevity

In light of work-from-home employment condition changes, the committee monitored the equipping and change management efforts undertaken to address cybersecurity and other risks.

Unable to make in-person visits, as is preferred, the committee with management undertook multi-level, multi-region, virtual engagement sessions, which were conducted over a period of five days and a Capital Markets Day. The advantage afforded by the virtual platform was the integration of simultaneous engagement with community and government stakeholders, which contributed to a richness in discussions. A number of learnings were gleaned and actions identified.

Relationship building is a key outcome of the stakeholder engagement strategy in redressing the plight of the poor in the communities surrounding the operations. Progress in respect of COVID-19-related delays in SLP delivery were at the heart of discussions aimed at turnaround implementation plans. At the end of the third quarter, the organisation was 8% behind schedule and 16% under budget spend. The committee is overseeing planned improvements in the delivery of community development projects and the efforts to meet commitments under lowered COVID-19 lockdown levels.

The committee's oversight of stakeholder engagement includes weekly reports in respect of business activity and media review as an indicator of reputation management.

The ESD programme execution and targets will receive ongoing focused attention in 2022 as part of the Sustainable Growth and Impact strategy.

Detailed information and positive results are reported in the Communities section. The committee remains committed to ESD and its monitoring.

The group's ethics processes are managed by the management ethics committee, which comprises prescribed officers, representatives of the internal audit and the chief audit officer. Chaired by the chief risk officer, it meets either monthly or as required to consider issues of non-compliance to the group code of ethics or conflicts of interest policy as well as matters reported on the ethics hotline or to management.

Required investigations are conducted by a dedicated forensic team that reports its findings independently to the chief audit executive.

The ethics committee formally reports to this committee to ensure the board has full oversight of ethics-related matters.

During the period under review, the group revised its insider dealing and external communications policies. The committee oversaw this revision with the support of the audit committee as well as the RBR committee. These revised policies were approved by the board for implementation from 3 June 2021.

Key innovations implemented during the year in review have assisted with the automation, improved access and dissemination of company policy and awareness training. The ongoing digital innovation and process improvements in respect of conflicts of interest, and all company policies in general, continue into 2022. It is anticipated to contribute positively to the ethics management plan, which is in the process of formulation following the detailed ethics risk assessment undertaken in the third and fourth quarters of 2021.

The ongoing anti-bribery and anti-corruption programme encompasses the identification and combating of at least two different forms of bribery-related activity especially when engaging the state or organs of state as one of our stakeholders, and when engaging suppliers or vendors of goods and services.

Contractors, vendors and third parties are also made aware during the process of engagement with the group that they are also expected to report corrupt activity when identified. The mechanisms to do so are written into contracts and published on our website, and made visible by the use of posters.

During 2021, the company implemented compulsory anti-bribery and anti-corruption awareness training. All employees and identified contractors were required to complete the revised training on principles of fraud and corruption. It is a requirement that all employees have a thorough understanding of these concepts, how to prevent such practices and how to respond when such practices are brought to their attention.