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BLUE LABEL
INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2017
15
/
Ethical leadership and business conduct
Good corporate governance is
essentially about effective and
responsible leadership. It is
characterised by the ethical values of
responsibility, accountability, fairness
and transparency. The typical aspects
of corporate governance, such as the
role and responsibilities of the Board
and Directors individually, internal
audit, risk management and
stakeholder engagement rest on
a foundation of ethical values.
Blue Label’s ethical standards are
encapsulated in its ethics statement
(page 35), which serves as a
framework for ethical reasoning
applicable to all employees in
their dealings with both internal and
external stakeholders. The ethics
statement applies to employees across
the Group, customers, business
partners, suppliers and other
stakeholders. Each is requested to
uphold the ethical principles
underpinning the statement, thereby
enabling us to live our values.
The purpose of the ethics statement
is to:
f
emphasise the Group’s commitment
to ethics and compliance with laws
and regulations;
f
set out basic standards of ethical
and legal behaviour;
f
provide reporting mechanisms for
known or suspected ethical or legal
violations; and
f
help prevent and detect wrongdoing.
Blue Label reiterates its stance on the
following matters:
f
fraudulent, corrupt or illegal
practices are not tolerated. Bribes or
any other illicit payments including
facilitations will neither be paid
nor received;
f
the Group does not participate in
any illegal anti-competitive activity.
Employees cannot authorise or
participate in any illegal conduct
or action that purports to restrict
competition; and
f
the Group is non-political.
Employees are expected to
demonstrate ethical business practices
at all times. All new staff members
undergo an induction programme
that includes training on the above
code of business conduct, including
the function of the ethics hotline,
such as what should be reported and
how to report unethical behaviour via
this channel. The ethics hotline is
outsourced to KPMG Ethics Line, a
division of KPMG, and has been
certified by EthicsSA as fulfilling the
External Whistleblowing Hotline
Service Provider Standard EO1.1.1.
This standard is a best practice set
of guidelines or norms for the
professional and ethical conduct
of external whistleblowing hotline
service providers operating their
own centres or facilities.
A number of incidents were reported
during the year. All incidents were
human resource-related and were
resolved by the Group Head of
Human Resources and the relevant
line managers, in terms of the Group’s
policies and procedures.