In reporting expenditure with historically disadvantaged South African (HDSA) suppliers, Exxaro follows the narrow-based standard for mining houses due to a statutory anomaly that will hopefully be short-lived. Currently, suppliers have to be rated according to two sets of legislation (the codes of good practice from
the Department of Trade and Industry, and the stipulations of the Department of Minerals and Energy). The biggest challenge, however, is rating agency capacity and the availability of SANAS-verifi ed rating agencies. Ideally, in time, rating agencies will be compliant with HDSA legislation, use uniform rating standards, and report their fi ndings in a common and acceptable manner.
Exxaro nevertheless has approved policies and practices for spending with locally based suppliers at all signifi cant locations. We also encourage our suppliers to transform their operations and comply with new empowerment legislation. In 2007, we met our target for discretionary spending with HDSA suppliers of 35%, representing R1,97 billion with HDSA-owned, -empowerment and -infl uenced companies.
In categories where no HDSA companies are found, Exxaro engages with existing suppliers to transform. The intended HDSA status is thus contracted and monitored for progress to ensure total compliance and the presence of HDSAs in all procurement categories.
Despite the industry-wide challenge of accurately tracking spending on suppliers by category, as required by the mining charter, annual targets are shown here, and reporting is in line with the requirements of the charter.
For more information about the Exxaro preferential procurement programme and process, contact:
Kenneth Kgomo, Manager Commercial Equity Development, on (012) 307 4210
or email
