Stakeholders (including employees, shareholders and other third parties) may bring matters of concern
to the attention of the Illovo management and board through various processes, including the Illovo Tip-
Offs Anonymous and Crime-line reporting processes, reports to the group internal audit function,
group company secretary, group compliance manager, executive committee, individual functional
directors or line managers, or directly to the board through its chairman. Environmental concerns are
recorded in a complaints register at each entity and are monitored by senior management. These
reports may be made anonymously.
Our key stakeholders and the matters in relation to which they are engaged, on an on-going basis, are
listed below:
We also participate in public policy development, such as through the land reform forums in South Africa,
and participation in water catchment agencies as part of our water risk management. We are also a
member of, and participate in, the activities of the National Business Initiatives (NBI), which is the local
South African partner of the CPD, UN Global Compact and the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development.
Stakeholder concerns and issues are monitored by our Social and Ethics Committee, the statutory
committee established in terms of the Companies Act, which reports to the Illovo board and to
shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting. Key stakeholder topics and concerns addressed
during the year are dealt with more fully elsewhere in this report and in our 2015 Integrated Annual
Report, and included, in particular, focus on the elimination of forced and child labour, living wages and
land rights (see further under the heading of “Human Rights in the supply chain” above).
Our engagement with local communities and other vulnerable stakeholders is guided by the principle of
free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in relation to all matters where our new projects or operations
may impact on them. Our procedures involve environmental and social impact assessments, on-going
stakeholder engagement and risk and impact monitoring, while on-going consultation processes involve
mechanisms to address grievances. In relation to matters which do not involve the company directly,
and in relation to which the company does not have direct interaction with affected stakeholders, we are
nevertheless committed to ascertaining that the third parties involved (including governments) conduct
themselves in line with human rights principles and internationally acceptable best practice standards.
Illovo’s operations are surrounded by cane supply areas incorporating agricultural operations owned and
operated by both the company on its own cane fields and private growers. Given the inextricable links
between growers themselves, and between growers and our own agricultural and factory operations,
together with the surrounding communities, formal and informal representative structures exist at various
levels across the spectrum, supporting continuous and healthy stakeholder engagements on common
and extraordinary matters of mutual concern, including grievances. When dealing with community
stakeholders and projects that require decisions and ownership by the communities, Illovo prefers to go
beyond FPIC and refer to ‘Free Prior and Informed Decision Making’.
Project assessments
As indicated above and in our Social and Ethics Committee report, all proposed projects undergo a
stringent stage and gate process. This includes:
legal investigation of land tenure rights;
working with local legislative frameworks and land reform programmes;
consultation with local communities and public authorities; and
ensuring mutually agreed compensation where local communities are affected by our operations.
This process also includes the provision of technical and financial support to local community farmers
supplying sugar cane to our operations and working with reputable development organisations to ensure
projects are in line with accepted international standards.
Although Illovo is seldom involved in land acquisitions relative to its agricultural operations, our
procedures, in line with our Group Guidelines on Land and Land Rights, reflect our zero tolerance to
land-grabbing. They prescribe that any proposed land acquisition (whether buying, renting, acquiring or
otherwise accessing land or property) must involve consultation with all affected owners and users of the
land or property.
