Investing in our Communities

Hulisani’s corporate social investment (CSI) focuses on the upliftment of previously disadvantaged communities where we operate. Beyond our direct activities, we create and sustain jobs, support education, and help improve welfare for local communities around our operations.

Hulisani’s corporate social investment (CSI) focuses on the upliftment of previously disadvantaged communities where we operate. Beyond our direct activities, we create and sustain jobs, support education, and help improve welfare for local communities around our operations.

Positive Development Outcomes: RustMo1

RustMo1 Solar Farm is an independent power producer, situated in Marikana in the North-West Province of South Africa.

The Mmaditlhokwa and Lapologang communities are situated within a 10 km radius of the 7MW solar farm. These communities suffer from high poverty levels, with over 40% unemployment, and lack basic infrastructure and services.

RustMo1 has been able to leverage its normal business activities in the most effective way to deliver positive developmental outcomes for these two mining communities.

RustMo1 has three areas of focus in supporting the two mining communities. Firstly, the developers of RustMo1 set up a community trust, known as The Momentous Foundation, whereby the community owns 17% of the solar farm, with the beneficiaries being the local communities who would participate in dividends, when declared, of the company over its 20-year lifespan.

The second and core focus is education. The local primary school, Retief Primary School, offers hope to the young children of these communities. RustMo1 has over the years, supported the school with maintenance, infrastructure, painting, lighting, printers and chalkboards and supports the children with school uniforms, shoes, jerseys and other requests from the school. RustMo1 partnered with the FET College in Rustenburg, where youth from the local communities were sponsored to study engineering.

A more formalised Experience Works Programme (EWP) has since been implemented.
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) participated in the programme and has provided additional funding. Youth development was identified as a priority by both communities and the EWP was identified as the best option to address youth development. The EWP is a two phase programme that includes entrepreneurial training as well as access to internship opportunities.

Twenty youth have joined the programme, with the hope of finding formal employment or establishing their own businesses.

RustMo1 supports the local community with their basic welfare needs. This includes food and blanket distributions, the construction of a community centre, sponsorship of sports uniforms for the local sports teams and bedding and appliances for the local homes for the elderly and children like MÔrester and SOS Children’s Village.

RustMo1, in collaboration with the Department of Minerals and Energy, the IDC and its other partners, are committed to making a significant difference to the community over the long term.

Empowering Princess Alice Adoption Home

The Princess Alice Adoption Home (PAAH) situated in Johannesburg in the Gauteng Province of South Africa.

It is a temporary place of safety which provides 24 hour residential care to babies who have been consented for adoption, abandoned or occasionally removed from family care. The Home cares for 30 babies and provides a safe haven for pregnant girls who are destitute or in crisis.

As part of its social contribution on Nelson Mandela Day in 2018, Hulisani assisted the Home with planting a food garden and installing a solar powered geyser on the premises.

Making time for tilling, planting and watering is a contribution to giving and preserving life. Hulisani believes, in the spirit of nurturing, that wherever a seed is planted, a healthy mind is grown.

With access to clean solar power for water heating, which is essential for its operations, the Home is able to save substantially on energy costs and enjoy a sustainable supply of clean, environmentally friendly energy.

For Hulisani this initiative represents the core of its vision, which is to nurture and empower communities, putting power into the hands of consumers and supporting a much greener way to live.

Making a Difference
at Hope School

The historic Hope School for the disabled located in Johannesburg, established in 1929, was a beneficiary of one of Hulisani’s social initiatives on Nelson Mandela Day 2019.

The Hope School is a Department of Education facility which provides a holistic nurturing and educational environment for children with physical disabilities. The school caters for children from pre-school age to Grade 12.

In recognition of Hope School’s wonderful work with these remarkable children to help them reach their full potential, Hulisani made a donation of winter blankets to the school and assisted with advice on introducing sustainable renewable energy solutions. With Hulisani’s help, the school will be able to reduce its power consumption and costs.

Policy

As an investment holding company, a huge part of Hulisani’s contribution to society comes from our investments in energy and the impact they have on industry and society.

As an investment holding company, a huge part of Hulisani’s contribution to society comes from our investments in energy and the impact they have on industry and society.

In addition, we take responsibility for contributing to the sustainability and economic, social and environmental behaviors of the companies we invest in. To this end, Hulisani actively implements measures to drive the long-term prosperity of the communities where the investments are situated.

Hulisani actively advances the principles of sustainable development through our shareholding and voting powers on the boards of our respective entities, to ensure that we make a significant contribution to the communities in which we invest.

We acknowledge that it is important to manage our economic, social and environmental relationships effectively, as this ensures that we continue to create sustainable value by delivering economic value for shareholders and social benefit.

Reporting

The SE Committee is guided by its terms of reference which was approved by the board on 26 March 2018. The company has satisfactorily complied with its terms of reference. The SE Committee was established in terms of section 72(4) and regulation 43 of the Companies Act. The functions of the SE Committee are threefold namely, to:

  • monitor the activities of the company by having regard to the applicable legislation, codes of best practice and any legal requirements as specified;
  • report to the board on matters within its mandate; and
  • report to the company shareholders on matters within its mandate at the annual general meeting.

The role of the SE Committee has been expanded to encompass the provisions in King IVTM, which requires that, in addition to its oversight of the management of ethics, it is also required to have oversight on the reporting of organisational ethics, responsible corporate citizenship, sustainable development and stakeholder relationships.

Stakeholder Relationships

Hulisani is committed to creating and maintaining inclusive, honest and mutually beneficial relationships, partnerships and engagements with all its stakeholders.

As a responsible investor, we look to give consistent, predictable and reliable inflation-linked returns whilst being a socially responsible investor. Stakeholders include management and shareholders of our assets, providers of capital and government who are all fundamental to our success.

Below is the plan and platform we are building to ensure constant communication to our stakeholders: