Two South African companies have become the first businesses to agree
to participate in stakeholder engagement sessions organized by the
Johannesburg-based African Institute of Corporate Citizenship and Ernst
& Young.
Mining company Kumba Resources, which is the world’s fourth-biggest
iron ore producer, and British American Tobacco South Africa each met
around 50 African stakeholders for ‘frank and open’ discussions about the contents of their 2004 social reports.
The institute, whose members are drawn from civil society as well as
business, has set up the sessions ‘to increase the level of debate on
corporate reporting and to promote accountability in the reporting
process’.
Issues raised in the meetings are made public, and the company is
required to publish a public response within a couple of months.
Reports on the two meetings released last month show most comments
about the companies’ reporting were generally positive, but that
stakeholders thought Kumba, among other things, should make greater use
of Global Reporting Initiative indicators, use less jargon and provide
more comparisons of social and environmental performance against its
peers in the industry.
BAT’s report was criticized for having ‘too much information’ and being
‘impossible to download’. It was also too investor-focused and failed
to mention the debate about genetically modified tobacco.
The state-owned South African telecommunication provider Telkom is the next organization to go through the process.
