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BUSINESS MODEL
AND STRATEGIC
OBJECTIVES
LEADERSHIP
GOVERNANCE
SHAREHOLDERS’
INFORMATION AND
ADMINISTRATION
OPERATING
PERFORMANCE
FINANCIAL
PERFORMANCE
BLUE LABEL INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2014
19
BUSINESS
ETHICS
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.
To this extent, Blue Label’s ethical standards are
encapsulated in its ethics statement, which provides
a template for ethical reasoning as a guide to all
employees in their dealings with both internal and
external stakeholders. The ethics statement is
applicable to employees across the Group, as well as
to customers, business partners, suppliers and other
stakeholders. Each is requested to uphold the ethical
reasoning of the statement, thereby enabling us to
live our values.
The purpose of the ethics statement is to:
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emphasise the Group’s commitment to ethics and
compliance with laws and regulations,
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set out basic standards of ethical and legal
behaviour,
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provide reporting mechanisms for known or
suspected ethical or legal violations, and
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help prevent and detect wrongdoing.
From an ethical perspective Blue Label reiterates its
stance on the following matters:
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fraudulent, corrupt or illegal practices are not
tolerated. Bribes or any other illicit payments
including facilitations will neither be paid nor
received;
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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
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the Group is non-political.
Employees are expected to demonstrate ethical
business practices. 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
Whistle-blowing 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.
The only incident reported during the year under
review was human resource-related and was resolved
by the Group Human Resources Manager.