• Sustainable growth
• Nature of business
• Segmental review
• Corporate structure
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• Directorate profile
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• Executive committee
• Chairman's statement
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• Telecommunications
• Power Electronics and Multi-media
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• Sustainability report
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• Introduction
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• Financial highlights
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• Annexure 1 - Associates, other investments and joint ventures
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• Financial statements of the company »

• Balance sheet
• Income statement
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• GRI content index
• Letter from the chairman
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• Corporate data

Corporate social investment

Corporate Social Investment (CSI), which incorporates socio-economic development as per the codes, in Altron is governed by the Transcom, which has established a CSI subcommittee to oversee and drive the execution of the Vision 2010 and strategic CSI goals. The Transcom has overall responsibility for monitoring progress through quarterly reports, and ensuring regular reporting on the group’s community involvement to the Altron board. In addition, Altron continues to support a number of CSI programmes that fall outside the terms of the codes. The group spent R13 925 406 (R10 million in 2006) on CSI projects during the year under review. Altron’s community involvement strategy is based on a formalised approach, characterised by senior management involvement where appropriate. Altron favours working in partnerships with government and other businesses, and looks for opportunities for employee involvement. The group has during the year under review developed best practice guidelines for CSI practitioners across the operations and hosts an annual workshop for practitioners to share lessons and insights. With a clear policy and guidelines at group level, ownership of CSI lies with the executive management at the operating companies, supported by a dedicated CSI resource. The following are highlights of our activities with regard to community involvement during the year under review.

Bridging the digital divide

Recognising that information and communication technology (ICT) is a major factor in the process of global integration and ensuring the country’s competitiveness, President Thabo Mbeki has made bridging the digital divide a key priority in his Millennium Africa Recovery Programme. Altron welcomes the opportunity to play a meaningful part in helping the country to achieve these goals by drawing on its skills, expertise and thought leadership.

During the year under review, group companies were involved in a number of large and small initiatives that involved establishing multi-media centres and donating computers, equipment and teaching a range of ICT skills to schools in disadvantaged areas.

Today, close to 7 000 learners across three provinces have access to stateof- the-art ICT centres and equipment. Altron’s flagship ‘Bridging the Digital Divide’ initiative is based on an holistic approach to meeting multiple challenges posed by secondary factors including poor security, underskilled educators and the general state of disrepair of school facilities. This flagship project ensures that we not only establish and furnish multi-media centres with computer equipment and trained facilitators, but also upgrade and improve schools’ general infrastructure. The success of the first two projects at the Isikhumbuso Secondary School in Orange Farm and Langa High School in the Western Cape, led to similar projects at seven schools in KwaZulu-Natal.

Bytes developed a further seven multi-media computer centres in urban and rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal and initiated learnerships as part thereof. The company is developing a relationship with the provincial leadership of KwaZulu-Natal to expand the Khanya learnership in schools model in the province. To this end, using two Durban multi-media centres, Bytes has started to train and develop learnerships for such further deployment into schools in KwaZulu-Natal.

Education

Bytes, predominantly through its Bytes Document Solutions division, has a long-term and holistic programme of school “adoptions” that focuses on ensuring top-quality education, facilities and pass rates. Starting with the initial adoption of a high school and a primary school in Tembisa, Bytes has now adopted five schools in total, reaching more than 7 000 learners. The Buhlebemfundo Secondary School in Kwa Dabeka and the Trenance Manor High School in Phoenix were the most recent schools to be adopted. When the rural part of this project is completed, Bytes expects to be directly involved in a similar way with 10 schools throughout South Africa, representing over 10 000 learners as direct beneficiaries. Further support in the area of school facilities improvement saw the building by Aberdare of an administration block and the renovation and painting of the Charles Duna Primary School, where 919 children go each day to learn. In a similar long-term project started in 1994, Aeromaritime International Management Services (AIMS) has upgraded facilities at the Bertharry English Private School in Tembisa, including the electrification of the school and the erection of the concrete palisade fence to secure the school grounds, particularly important in light of the recent donation of 20 computers. With an average of 70 learners per classroom, one of the project’s goals was to decrease overcrowding for which AIMS built two new classrooms in 2006.

Crime prevention

A further example of Altron’s strategic approach to community involvement is that of Altech Netstar. The company provided financial and in kind support to the Prosperity Youth Group which provides training on crime prevention at schools in and around Tembisa. Youth are taken on visits to prison to show them the less glamorous side of crime, and participate in career awareness workshops to explore viable careers as responsible citizens.

Go Green, Go Willard

Partnering with 12 schools near to their operations in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Tembisa, Krugersdorp, Soweto, Ga Rankuwa, Mamelodi, Bloemfontein, Durban and Namibia, Willard Batteries planted thousands of indigenous trees during Arbour Week as part of its urban greening project. Tree planting forms a part of Willard Batteries’ broader greening strategy known as the Go Green, Go Willard Campaign. Through the campaign, the company encourages motorists to bring their old car batteries in for recycling, thus removing a potentially environmentally harmful product from the environment. A portion of the proceeds is then donated to Food and Trees For Africa, who identify areas most in need of trees and provide the recipients with information and material on how to plant and maintain them.

HIV/AIDS

Altron’s HIV/AIDS interventions focus mainly on two of the most vulnerable groups affected by the disease, namely terminally ill patients and orphaned children of child-headed households. Our flagship HIV/AIDS projects aim to provide muchneeded support and resources to home- and community-based caregivers that work to meet this need, such as hospice organisations. Hospice plays an invaluable role in helping both to ease the suffering of the dying and to counsel family members through the grieving process. The acceleration in AIDS-related deaths has placed a heavy burden on many existing hospice organisations and increased the need for new hospice centres to be set up in areas where the disease is particularly rife. The hospice in Diepkloof, Soweto received support amounting to R100 000 from Aberdare, allowing nurses to ease the suffering of an extra 1 471 patients, making them comfortable in their last days and providing nutritional advice, bereavement counselling and HIV/AIDS education to their families. A further 481 terminally ill patients and their families in Umkomaas, KwaZulu-Natal have benefited from support that Battery Technologies provided to the Khanya Hospice in that area. The new wheelchairs, syringe drivers, mattresses and computer that the company donated have helped Khanya Hospice ease the suffering of this predominantly rural community in the province hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.