sustainability report

social and transformation matters

Corporate social investment (CSI)

The group has undertaken several initiatives during the financial year in an endeavour to create an environment conducive for the investment of money and resources in the sustainable upliftment of previously disadvantaged communities. The focus to date has been on those communities that have the greatest need and who can be found in amongst or on the outskirts of the communities in which Blue Label Telecoms employees reside. Consequently considerable focus has been placed on the youth, HIV/Aids, sports development and education.

Nomonde’s Children’s Home

Nomonde is a retired nursing sister who cares for 32 abandoned HIV/Aids children. Nomonde was referred to the group by a concerned staff member. At the time that Blue Label Telecoms associated with Nomonde, the children’s home was situated in a ramshackle, uninhabitable house in Kensington. The living conditions were not suitable for children, least of all sick children.

Blue Label Telecoms assisted Nomonde in securing a suitable house in Lombardy East for her and the children. The ownership of the property are being transferred into a Trust that will allow Nomonde and the children to have a proper home. In addition, Blue Label Telecoms will assist on a continuous basis to secure other badly needed resources.

The group’s CSI strategy will be formalised as part of the overall transformation strategy. The group are furthermore looking to create a Blue Label Telecoms Foundation, managed and administered by staff, management and patrons, with an objective of indentifying projects that will align with the CSI strategy of the group and project that will yield sustainable and longer-term benefits for the relevant communities.

The group has spent in aggregate approximately R900 000 on CSI initiatives during the period under review. Certain of the initiatives undertaken included:

• monthly donations to the Jakaranda and Louis Botha Children’s Homes, as well as Berg-en-Dal Pregnancy crisis centre;
• training and employment for the blind and partially sighted in conjunction with the Athlone School for the blind;
• sponsorship to the Topsy Foundation, an HIV and Aids foundation which focuses on assisting people in rural areas with medical care, social support and skills development;
• donations made to MaAfrica Tikkun, Business Against Crime South Africa, Supedi Trust, SA Medical Centre, The Giving Organisation and various other organisations and institutions; and
• sponsorship of charity golf days.

Transformation and broad-based black economic empowerment

Blue Label Telecoms recognised the need to develop and adopt a formal transformation strategy in support of the national programme for economic transformation. The board constituted a transformation committee at its first board meeting held in December 2007 with a specific mandate to develop framework policies and guidelines for the management of transformation including affirmative procurement, enterprise development, employment equity, human resource development, social development matters and ensuring the progressive implementation of the same throughout the group.

As a newly listed public entity Blue Label Telecoms and its subsidiaries embrace the challenge of transformation and are dedicated to progressing transformation by working closely with the transformation committee in ensuring that the group’s policies are implemented effectively and successfully throughout our group.

The transformation committee adopted a four-phase approach comprising:

Enterprise development

Blue Label Telecoms, through its major subsidiary TPC, is a funder of Zok Cellular (Proprietary) Limited (ZOK). ZOK aims to empower budding entrepreneurs from South Africa’s previously disadvantaged communities through equipping them with already made FMCG retailing solution in the form of a ZOK container. This container equally offers banking and telephony services as well as a small business centre functionality in the form of print, copy and scan services and internet connectivity. The placement of ZOK containers in previously disadvantaged areas is intended to bridge the gap in telecommunications, ICT and banking services in such areas as well as uplift the communities’ resident there.