Ensuring that our customers can be confident that their use of telecommunication services is as safe as can be is of utmost importance to us

EMF

Occupational health and safety officers ensure safe working conditions for our staff in all our operations. Specific high-risk issues of safety relate to installation, operation and maintenance of masts, and exposure of employees and contractors to EMF emissions at base station sites.

These technical employees are required to undertake compliance training to ensure that they operate safely and knowledgeably, and certified training to minimise occupational exposure is available to all employees and contractors working close to network antennae. Through MTN’s Safe for You programme in partnership with International SOS programme, all employees can work and travel securely in the knowledge that they can access a network of medical, security, travel, routine and emergency advice and assistance, and security evacuation. This service is available telephonically, online and locally (on-the-ground) 365 days a year.

Fraudulent and corrupt activities are a threat to the sustainability of any business. Our anti-corruption policy and plan to combat fraud is implemented through a holistic approach of proactive fraud risk assessments, audit plans and conducting fraud awareness training and reporting.

Reactive sources of managing fraud include audit reports, use of our whistleblower line, investigations, maintenance of fraud registers and departmental sources of data. We continue to encourage our employees to use our whistleblower line, called Tip-offs Anonymous, which we use as an indicator that our employees are aware of the importance of anti-corruption and they report corrupt activities.

86% of our operations have been trained on the management of fraud and corruption.

In 2011, we undertook training on the identification and control of corruption and fraud issues to MTN Sudan. Only MTN Iran, Afghanistan and Botswana have yet to undergo formal training, which we hope to complete by 2013 respectively.

Given our own recent history, as South Africans, we are particularly conscious of human and civil rights. In doing business, we work within the laws of the countries where we operate.

MTN is acutely aware of the human rights and privacy dimensions that impact any company in the telecommunications sector. MTN operates within strict ethical principles that dictate what we do and how we behave. We expect our partners to operate within a similar framework.

We have a Board Social and Ethics Committee that provides guidance on how we handle complicated issues, including human and civil rights. We also believe there is a role for international bodies to draw up suitable codes of engagement with governments, and MTN is keen to draw on the expertise of third parties to think through how these issues are handled.

MTN Group supports complete freedom of association, although across our countries of operation, very few of our employees belong to unions. Of employees in our South African operations, 8,76% belong to trade unions. Procedures for consulting our employees are in place across all our operations and are driven by the head of human resources in our operations.

The development of small to medium enterprises contributes significantly to the GDP of African economies. For example, in South Africa, SMEs contribute about 40% to the country’s GDP. Our footprint across emerging economies provides us with the opportunity to support the growth of small enterprises in emerging economies.

Our aim is to provide support up to the point where they are profitable and sustainable. We achieve this through the provision of mentorship, support, advice and procurement from emerging entrepreneurs. To address the need for cost-effective communication solutions, MTN Business’ MTN4SME offers a range of discounts to small businesses with between 2 and 200 employees.

In Nigeria, MTN’s Village Phone project operating since 2007 has helped 4 500 mainly women-owned vendors increase their incomes and expand their business skills. Beneficiaries receive recharge cards, a mobile phone, an antenna, a solar charger, MTN promotional materials and basic accounting business training. The vendor then uses their handset to allow customers to make and receive calls, hence the term ‘village phone’. MTN Nigeria’s Bizlift programme supports more than 53 000 retailers, by providing a source of business ideas, access to finance and sales material.

The Group president and CEO has directed that all operations are to establish foundations that are funded by up to 1% of profit after tax (PAT). MTN Foundation projects are aimed at establishing sustainable initiatives that promote partnerships with our communities.

We channel our investment toward developmental priorities in the countries in which we operate. Foundation programme spend for 2011 is represented in the graphs below. The decline in the amount spent on CSI programmes for 2011 compared to 2010 is as a result of our projects running over multiple reporting periods; payments are effected once certain milestones are achieved, and only then can we report budget spending. In addition, some of our operations experienced socio-political unrest during the reporting year, which delayed the progress of our projects.

During 2011, we developed a new Group-wide strategy for community engagement, informed by our ICT business strategy and national development agendas. The strategy also takes into account the need to standardise governance and reporting, and measure and evaluate the impact of our foundations. The aim of this standardisation is to improve efficiency and sharing of knowledge and best practices

Employee volunteerism is an important part of our culture. MTN’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care programme is structured to allow employees to give back to their communities, and takes place annually, usually within the month of June.

Guidelines on how our employees can engage in community development work are provided and structured around a theme. Our 2011 volunteering theme focused on environmental sustainability. This was in line with United Nations General Assembly declaration of 2011 as the ‘Year of International Forests’.

The reason we selected this theme was to create awareness and contribute towards habitat diversity, help create carbon sink in rainforest areas, improve shelter and emphasise the social, economic and environmental value of forests. Since weather conditions were unbearably hot in some of the countries in which we operate (for example, Afghanistan and Cyprus) during June, our volunteers could also elect to implement other projects that could improve their local environments while not working outdoors for extended periods of time. Examples of such projects included computer literacy using existing resources, cleaning water streams, plastic recycling, education and public health.

Each of our operations were asked to plant 1 000 trees. Over 66 000 trees were planted by MTN employees during this time.