Most notably these were:

• A resolution of the ruling party at its Stellenbosch Conference – December 2002;

• President Thabo Mbeki’s State-of-the-Nation address – February 2003;

• The release by the Department of Trade and Industry of the document “Strategy for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment” – March 2003;

• The release of the Broad-Based BEE Bill – May 2003;

• ICT Charter Indaba – September 2003;

• Financial Charter – October 2003; and

• Signing of the BEE Act by President Thabo Mbeki (January 2004).

 

The concept of our group’s transformation and the writing of the Altron Transformation Policy were not isolated from, and took into account, all of the above developments.

 

It is stated in clause 3.5.7.6 of the abovementioned dti strategy documents: “Government will seek to conclude enterprise charters with key corporates in the priority sectors to inject momentum into the BEE process. BEE will only be achieved when such enterprises voluntarily develop, as part of their overall corporate strategy, clear plans to achieve BEE.”

 

The development of this policy document has been aided by the support of my colleagues in the Altron Executive Committee as well as in the Office of the Chairman. The Chairman of Altron, Dr Bill Venter, and our Chief Executive, Robert Venter, both addressed the Altron Transcom Indaba in June 2003. At this event, an inspiring address was also delivered by Dr Danisa Baloyi, Chairperson of the Black Business Council (BBC).

 

The process which followed was designed to reach each one of our 150 operations as well as our workforce of 11 000 people. The process ensured that whatever their position is in the group, every single employee needed to know about and be touched by these policies – whether it is by participating in skills training or in cultural diversity management workshops, etc.

 

Throughout the process, a paramount recurring theme was the endeavour to seek to demonstrate the business or commercial justification for embarking on this path. This needs to be separated from the equally compelling moral, political and historical reasons which may justify these policies.

 

The single most important Altron objective is to improve shareholder value by annually growing its profit or the bottom line. However, there can be no bottom line without the top line.

 

The objective of pursuing these policies should be viewed in the context of positioning group companies in such a manner as to effectively compete for business in the new South Africa in order to increase their sales.

 

Thereafter, through the application of our other renowned sound management principles and strategies, we will ensure that the bottom line is correspondingly improved and in so doing, the interests of all our stakeholders (including all our employees, black and white).

 

It is against this background that the policy, as set out below, was developed by the Transcom.

 

POLICY FRAMEWORK

 

The first section under the heading “Definitions” takes into account some of the definitions that evolved during the period described above. It would, for example, be unwise to adopt a definition of BEE which is different from the one contained in the new BEE Act when one of the stated aims of that legislation is to bring uniformity across the sectors.

 

The subsequent definitions and policies respectively deal with each BEE indicator as set out in the government scorecard. Each indicator is dealt with from the point of view of specific definitions related thereto, the policy statements which must guide all Altron companies, the specific targets to be achieved, as well as the method by which performance will be measured.

 

In section 11, an attempt is made at designing an Altron internal scorecard, modeled on the government scorecard and informed by the internally agreed targets.

 

In section 12, the so-called red, amber, green (RAG) analysis is adopted as an internal early warning system for those whose performance will be judged, among other things, against the achievement of group targets.

A standard reporting system has been developed and will be prescribed in order to facilitate uniform reporting and evaluation at the different levels of companies including the Board of Directors.

 

Finally, and mostly for symbolic reasons, a declaration signed by the highest operational management of Altron (including members of the Office of the Chairman) is appended to this policy document.

 

It is never the intention in a policy document to legislate for each and every possible scenario that may arise in practice. The goal is to set broad policy parameters which should sufficiently guide its users. Unforeseen circumstances will always arise and they must be dealt with by either seeking clarity from the local or group Transcom or by giving an interpretation which is consistent with the spirit of this Vision 2010 document.

 

Dali Mpofu

Group Executive Director: Corporate Affairs

(and chairman of the transformation committee)