Page 24 - SABN AR 2021

Social and Ethics Committee report
The Chairperson of the SABN Social and Ethics Committee (SEC) reported to the shareholder on matters within the SEC’s mandate for the period ended 31 March 2021. This report is provided in accordance with the regulations issued in terms of the Companies Act.
Appointment and composition
Mr W Mkhabela was appointed as Chairperson of the SEC with effect from 6 May 2019. The members of the SEC are W Mkhabela (Independent Non- executive Director and Chairperson), P Maharaj (Non-executive Director), L L Mda (Executive Director), H E K Mamabolo (Non-executive Director), A S Haffejee and D van Zyl (prescribed officers of the SABN). The SARB Group Secretariat provides secretariat support to the meetings of the SEC.
Responsibilities
The objectives and responsibilities of the SEC are recorded in its terms of reference, and are aligned with the SEC’s statutory functions, as set out in the Companies Act Regulations of 2011 issued in terms of the Companies Act.
Functioning
The SEC met four times during the year under review. All meetings held over the past year were conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams to comply with the lockdown regulations instituted in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
A special meeting of the SEC was convened in July 2020 when the committee was apprised of the SABN’s response to COVID-19 and the preventative measures that had been instituted in line with legislation to protect its employees when resuming production after the plant lockdown on 27 March 2020. The meeting concluded that the SABN had responded exceptionally well, had shown care for its employees, and had instituted every practical measure once it resumed operations on 4 May 2020. The SABN
has been able to decisively deal with COVID-19 preventative measures and the challenges related to employees returning to work in January 2021 during the second wave of infections that took place.
Progress was made in the various areas that the SABN and the SEC are required to monitor and report on in terms of the Companies Act and King IVTM.
The SABN’s standard of integrity and ethics in dealing with its internal and external stakeholders is outlined in its Code of Ethics and Business Conduct (Code). The Code translates the SABN’s values into practical action. The SABN’s culture is built on a commitment to its core ethical values of integrity, accountability, respect and trust, passion for performance excellence and sustainability.
The committee is responsible for monitoring the application of the SABN’s ethics policies and practice with regard to the commitment to the governance of, and reporting on, the SABN’s sustainable development performance. A practical measure in this regard is the annual declaration of interest process, which requests employees to disclose their outside interests, if any. During the year under review, a total of 360 employees completed their annual disclosures online with a total of 130 still outstanding as at 31 March 2021. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, most employees have been working remotely and not all have access to the SABN’s information technology systems at home, which contributed to the number of outstanding declarations.
The SABN is a Level 1 accredited member of the BnEI Accreditation Council and complies with its Code of Ethical Business Practice. The BnEI was established to provide ethical business practices, with a focus on the prevention of corruption and on compliance with anti-corruption legislation within the banknote industry.
The SABN is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for all its employees, contractors and service providers. The principle of ‘zero harm’ and a target of zero incidents is entrenched throughout the SABN’s operations.
The SEC regularly reviews the safety and health initiatives of the SABN. Interventions have been put in place to assist the SABN in reaching its target of zero harm. The SABN received re-certification of ISO 14001:2015: Environmental Management Systems and successfully transitioned from the OHSAS 18001 to the ISO 45001:2018 occupational health and safety standard.
South African Bank Note Company (RF) Proprietary Limited
24
Annual Report 2021
Social and Ethics Committee report