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Socio-economic development

Socio-economic development

Sustainability is defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Sustainable development encompasses a balance between three pillars, namely economy, environment and society. The requirements of each must be considered and integrated into all activities to achieve sustainability.

Accordingly, socio-economic development is a group-wide commitment and an integral part of Exxaro's accountability to stakeholders. At senior executive level, we liaise with national and provincial government departments to ensure our initiatives align with national priorities. Our business units liaise with their municipal counterparts in implementing these strategic plans and feedback is given to senior management to ensure that stated objectives are met.

Our focus areas

  • Formal education
  • Skills development
  • Enterprise development, including small-scale mining
  • Health and welfare
  • Environment
  • Infrastructure
  • Agriculture
  • Tourism
  • Sports and recreation.
In Exxaro, socio-economic development is both a key responsibility towards our host communities, and a strategically sound business imperative. We believe the most sustainable results in creating economically, socially and environmentally viable local communities come from a three-way partnership between government, business and the communities themselves.

 
 
Acknowledging that community development is not our core competence, we have developed a systematic approach that defines real needs at community and government levels, and then harnesses the appropriate skills to ensure success:
  • Develop a stakeholder engagement and management plan (AA1000SES).
  • Understand key government objectives for growth and development.
  • Study growth and development strategy of provincial government.
  • Participate in local economic development structures and forums to formulate a joint approach.
  • Focus on capacity building and knowledge transfer.
 
Our approach is matched by clear delivery principles and standards on projects which must:
  • Meet real needs
  • Be sustainable
  • Be aligned to government initiatives at local, district, provincial and national levels
  • See partnerships as far as possible
           — participation in existing local authority structures in each focus area
           — co-funders for large projects
  • Make measurable impact
  • Obtain stakeholder input in selection and prioritisation.
South African Mining Preferential Procurement Forum
When the mining charter was released, little was said about procurement although four elements were reflected as requirements:
  • Determine current levels of spend with historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSAs)
  • Actively encourage existing suppliers to transform
  • Indicate commitment to progression of procurement from HDSA companies
  • Assist HDSA companies to develop.

Ready to comply, mining companies soon recognised the need to clarify definitions and adopt a unified approach to make reporting more meaningful. A process that sounds simple was immeasurably complicated by the different interpretations applied by individual companies to items as diverse as discretionary spending to classifying spare parts. This was the genesis of the SA Mining Preferential Procurement Forum of which Exxaro was a founding member and which includes most of the major and minor mining houses.

The forum's community involvement goes beyond including members on the panel. Provincial forums share opportunities in other provinces, provide links to empowerment partners and a network for interacting with mine procurement officers.

Projects
Click here to view some of our recent case studies

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