Message by Charlotte Mokoena, Executive Vice President: Human Resources and Stakeholder Relations.

In recent years business has assumed a more prominent position as a force for social good. It has long transcended its sole focus on profitability, embracing the ethos of shared value creation that extends beyond mere financial gain. Indeed the business landscape has undergone significant transformation, as corporations have emerged as pivotal collaborators in advancing both social and economic progress.

At Sasol, we pride ourselves in being pathfinders, continuously seeking out novel ways to realise sustainable socio-economic benefits for our communities and broader society. Fuelled by our purpose to innovate for a better world, our global teams work tirelessly on programmes that enable us to be a force for social good as we strive to create shared value, alongside our partners, communities and stakeholders.

Our diligent efforts ensure that the programmes we develop and execute continue to deliver meaningful outcomes that mitigate the scourge of youth unemployment, improve access to quality education and reduce poverty, among other pressing societal needs. Our gains from the past year are reflected in the various strategic programmes we spearheaded:

Improving the quality of education outcomes

Our STEM Education Excellence programmes are continually improving the quality of education outcomes from early childhood to postgraduate level. During the past year, we benefitted 270 Centres, 964 practitioners and 15 184 children through our Early Childhood Education (ECD) programme.

Our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programme reached 36 000 learners in Grades 10 to 12 through our first-ever virtual Sasol TechnoX career guidance exhibition. In North America, we supported five school-wide STEM engagements at Partner in Education schools across the region, connecting over 800 students to STEM enrichment activities.

Enabling access to critical workplace skills

In our Bridge to work skills and employability programme, our farmer development programme in South Africa, Iphepe – which means to feed yourself – has successfully trained and mentored 164 people in agricultural skills; livestock; vegetable and poultry production from our fenceline communities in Sasolburg, Secunda and Ekandustria. In Mozambique, 500 beneficiaries were trained in entrepreneurship, with 250 receiving funding for new businesses. In North America, we support the Louisiana Small Business Development Centre which counselled over 500 distinctive clients and 40 industry-related clients on business development.

Creating economic inclusion opportunities

Through our Economic Transformation and Local Content strategy, we made remarkable strides by increasing our development support to by 34% from FY22 baseline in South Africa over the past 12 months. This resulted in the creation of 1 060 new jobs in 2023. In total, 47 SMEs were funded through the Sasol Siyakha Fund with R98 million disbursed in the current financial year compared to only R18 million in 2022. Our funding support resulted in the creation of 859 new jobs and 2 050 sustained jobs with a revenue growth of 18% and an interest rate saving of R9,1 million.

Assisting employees impacted by workforce transition to pursue entrepreneurship opportunities. The Centre for Shared Value Management’s (CSVM) Ntsika – meaning Pillar – an entrepreneur development programme, launched in 2021 to support South African-based employees impacted by restructuring, was concluded in 2022. The programme led to the inception of 25 business start-ups and the creation of 60 jobs, both permanent and temporary. These ventures span 12 different sectors, with professional services featuring strongest, followed by education and agriculture.

Elevating community service infrastructure and health care systems.

Our commitment to elevating community service infrastructure and health care systems resulted in the installation of solar infrastructure solutions in six Metsimaholo community health Centres in the Free State. This was done in an effort to provide uninterrupted health services and to mitigate the adverse impact of load shedding. We also completed the maintenance and improvement of the Komatipoort Clinic and the Cromati Combined School in Mpumalanga. We also completed the construction of the Inhassoro Vocational Training Centre which will assist in increasing the pool of artisan skills in Mozambique. In Qatar, we continue to partner with the Ministry of Social Development and Family to collaborate on the Accessible Qatar initiative including the Definitely Able initiatives to support people with disabilities.

Contributing to community environment programmes

We are extremely proud of our Community Environment programmes which resulted in the planting of 1 350 spekboom trees, 200 indigenous trees and six fruit trees in Leandra, Kinross, Bethal and Charl Cilliers. In North America, we relaunched the 1 000 Trees in 1 000 Days programme and planted over 175 trees within the first two events. To help clean up the environment, our communities collected a massive 120 139 tons of recyclable waste. We also reached over 170 000 people online in Qatar with our educational programme on the Sasol E-Nature and Accessibility Qatar websites.

Supporting women’s empowerment through sport sponsorships

Our sponsorship for women’s development in sport is now in its 14th year and has yielded positive results with continued growth in the Sasol Women’s League. Thousands of girls show a keen interest in professional sports from a young age which contributes to the talent pool of the national teams. Sasol’s longstanding brand sponsorship role also contributed to Banyana Banyana qualifying for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Champions where they made history by ending their campaign at the Round of 16.

Support our communities through Sasol for Good

Through Sasol for Good, our flagship employee volunteering and giving programme, we rallied over 600 employees, including Sasol’s President and CEO and other senior executives, to support our Mandela Day event, where we packed over 121 000 meals which were distributed to Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD) across the country. In North America, we hosted our second annual Community Week event, which is dedicated to benefitting neighbouring communities through company and employee-directed engagements. Over 600 employees participated in various community events, creating 800 STEM kits for our Partner in Education schools and contributing over US $35 000 through Sasol Gives, an online matching contributions programme for US employees.

Aligned with our rigorous monitoring and evaluation framework, we are assessing all our programmes in South Africa and Mozambique to reaffirm the effectiveness, validity and results of each initiative. This enables us to align our programmes with our business requirements, stakeholder needs and country priorities, and to identify gaps and opportunities to be pursued.

We take pride in the contributions we make through our social impact programmes; however, we recognise the importance of data to ensure we maximise the outcomes for beneficiaries. To this end, our Programme Verification Report (an independent report which is part of monitoring and evaluating our programmes), highlighted that most of our programmes are planned and run effectively, making a positive impact, but there are limited partners who contribute towards their implementation. For this reason, we will be eagerly pursuing partnerships that are in line with our implementation approach.

This feedback is important for us as we continue our work, given that business, government, and civil society share a common interest in contributing positively and meaningfully towards improving the lives of society’s most vulnerable groups.

Looking forward, partnerships will be a critical lever in our strategy to ensure we amplify the outcomes and impacts of our efforts, because our collective strengths will serve as a powerful force to catalyse change in our host communities across our various geographies. Our dedicated global team and communities stand ready to deliver ongoing shared value, affirming our commitment to remain a force for social good.

Click here to read the full Sasol in Society 2023 report.
Click here to read all our Sasol in Society Articles.

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In order to meet its obligation, Sasol partnered and provided upskilling support to one of our incubatees, KSM Chemical Solutions, a small business that was developed at the Sasol Business Incubator from 2015 to 2016, so that it would be able to deliver thousands of litres of hand sanitiser to healthcare facilities and areas in need across South Africa. This small business had to adjust their operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which almost forced KSM Chemical Solutions, to close their doors in March 2020 when the national lockdown began. Sasol supplies KSM with a high purity ethanol blend, which the smaller chemical maker turns into high-grade hand sanitiser. This partnership successfully produced and distributed over 1 million litres of hand sanitiser between April and October 2020, the majority of which went to our fence line communities. The production of this hand sanitiser was suspended in November given the decrease in the number of new cases of COVID-19 at the time.

This alliance also enabled Sasol to further increase the geographic reach by introducing a drumming process with a capacity of 500 drums a day, with one facility in Durban and another facility in Gauteng to cater for small customers, while keeping prices stable at a time when global demand and pricing for ethanol (alcohol) has increased amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the partnership, partners were able to offset costs, preserve jobs while caring for their communities ensuring that the spread of COVID-19 is mitigated in our communities. This is testament that when we foster inclusivity with our employees, customers, and stakeholders, the gains are endless.

When South Africa entered its second wave of COVID-19, the formidable project team went for an inclusive collaboration with internal stakeholders (Corporate Affairs, Supply Chain, Marketing and Sales, Legal, Base Chemicals), and external stakeholders: KSM Chemical Solutions as well as transport logistics partners: Stellar, Reef tankers, Supergroup and Imperial Logistics. Sasol is producing 200 000 litres of the sanitiser, while the logistics partners deliver over 19000 litres of sanitiser per week in Kinross, Secunda and Zamdela, Sasolburg, all at their own cost between February and April 2021. The hand sanitiser will be further donated to Taxi Associations, government departments, community partners, Traditional Leaders, schools, Early Childhood Development centres as well as correctional facilities in Secunda and Sasolburg.

“At Sasol, we are committed to the wellbeing of our communities. Throughout the campaign, we have always had an integrated response to COVID-19 by reprioritising our activities to ensure the stability and safety of our fence line communities. We have also been deliberate in supporting the cause using resources and partnerships that we already have, focusing on how our value chain can be redirected to support our communities and government to minimise impact on our cash flow while meeting the safety and health needs of our communities. For us, these kinds of partnerships are critical to saving lives and mitigating health, societal, and economic impacts” commented Dr Sarel Booyens, Head of Sasol for Good and Community Health and Environmental Programmes.

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Sasol over the years has been building trust-based relationships especially, to uplift communities close to its operations. These relationships enabled us to partner with various community structures and organisations to drive interventions that benefit their fence line communities.

Topsy Foundation

For more than 30 years, Team Sasol has been investing in several projects within the Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM). Through our partnership with the community and Department of Social Development (DSD) a need was identified for Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) to be capacity strengthened – hence the concept of Institutional Capacity Building. The partnership with the DSD so far has capacitated 86 NPOs in Govan Mbeki Municipality, with Early Childhood Development Centres being the main focus.

Institutional Capacity Building Programme

In the past financial year (FY20) Sasol Social Investment appointed Siyakhula Trust as the implementing partner for this programme. There were 10 NPOs from eMbalenhle that were identified to go through this intervention.

The programme included the following interventions:

• Conducting organisational audits;
• Conducting an accredited board training;
• Conducting other relevant training interventions;
• Reviewing the NPO Constitutions;
• Ensuring NPO compliance with NPO Act;
• Obtaining SARS exemptions for PBO status for the NPOs;
• Offering mentorship and organisational development support to the NPOs; and
• Offering accredited certificates.

The training implementation was informed by the training to be offered which had specific outcomes and which also took into consideration the expectations of learners. The programme involved ensuring that participants develop practical workplace-based documents that they can and will use at their various NPOs. Participants who fully attended, compiled and submitted Portfolios of Evidence on the accredited training (board orientation) were awarded certificates of competency. For all other programmes not accredited, learners that attended and successfully completed the programme received certificates of attendance.

“Sasol believes in the empowerment of societies, especially those around our operations. Having this celebratory graduation ceremony and handing over these certificates symbolises the ongoing progress of sustainable development in communities,” said Rethabile Ndjibu, Acting Head of Community Affairs: Sasol Energy Operations.

Other articles on Team Sasol’s contribution to our fenceline communities in Secunda:

Sasol opened a small business centre in Secunda for local SMMEs read more.
Sasol honoured frontline health workers in Mpumalanga read more.
Sasol handed over renovated community parks and safety equipment to Govan Mbeki Municipality read more.

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The event is in commemoration of World Teachers’ Day, which is a partnership between UNICEF, the International Labour Organization and Education International, which took place earlier this month.

“Even during the national Lockdown, teachers did not rest,” said Vusi Cwane, Head of the Sasol Foundation. “They dedicated themselves to delivering many initiatives including the Foundation-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) digital school, which provided online lessons to learners across the country, keeping them on track with their lessons.”

With learners now back at school, Cwane said teachers have the added responsibility to ensure social distancing and other preventative measures to help curb the spread of the covid-19 outbreak.  “They do this over and above their normal day-to-day responsibilities.”

Images taken pre-COVID-19

Established in 2008 to focus on addressing systemic challenges in STEM education in South Africa, the Sasol Foundation has long and successful partnership with the country’s educators. This has resulted in the Foundation being able to effect meaningful change in the education system through resources such as free online textbooks, workbooks, mobile laboratories and technical subject workshops.

“It is our belief that to impact education you must invest in, and partner with teachers. This is because they remain in the education system much longer with each teacher impacting a minimum of 200 learners a year,” said Cwane.

Today, many of us have attained countless achievements in different aspects of our lives due to the solid education foundation laid by our teachers.

Images taken pre-COVID-19

The webinar hosted by the Sasol Foundation will take place from 14:00 and teachers from across the country are invited to participate. Click here to join on the day https://www.corpcam.com/Sasol27102020

The programme includes an appreciation address by the Foundation, which early this year received a UNESCO Award for its resource-based educator development programmes. These include STEM education research, school leadership development and training for STEM Subject Advisors.

The public is also urged to join in on the celebration by posting messages of appreciation of educators’ commitment and the role they play in shaping future leaders on Sasol’s social media platforms using #TeacherAppreciationZA and #SasolFoundation.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/sasolsa
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/SasolLTD/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sasolsa/
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/company/sasol

Click here to see other Sasol in Society articles

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The University, which has been producing alcohol-based hand sanitisers for internal use and donating any excess to communities in need, uses its internal production capacity at InnoVenton to process Sasol Ethanol and produce between 400 and 500 liters of hand sanitiser per day. This is distributed to communities in the Eastern Cape, jointly identified with Sasol.  The Community Convergence Workstream (CCW) play a key role in working with Community Organisations to ensure that the sanitiser reaches those who need it the most. This team is guided by the need to be responsive to challenges faced by communities as a result of COVID-19, while simultaneously exploring the broader strategic objective of the transformed, engaged, and responsive university played.  Production through this partnership will continue until 30 September 2020 or until the envisaged 20 000 litres of hand sanitiser have been produced and distributed.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

The strategic partnership with Sasol is one of numerous that have been established to further increase the reach of its hand sanitisers to benefit communities, NGOs NPOs, CBOs hospitals and schools, to minimise the spread of COVID-19 infections and improve the health and safety of communities. 

At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, both Sasol and Mandela University produced hand sanitiser to meet their internal needs, as well as to assist their immediate communities in efforts towards the broader societal fight against COVID-19. At Mandela University, these efforts were carried out through the COVID-19 Coordinating Committee (CCC) that drives the institution’s external response to the pandemic.

Sasol responded to the needs of its own employees, contractors and fence-line communities by developing and producing its own blend of hand sanitiser.  The non-medical grade hand sanitiser is based on World Health Organisation (WHO) formulation requirements.  To date, Sasol has produced and distributed over 762 000 litres of hand sanitiser for internal use including providing hand sanitiser to various communities in South Africa and Mozambique, all provided free of charge.

Nelson Mandela University responded by producing ~13 000L of hand sanitiser at InnoVenton for use by staff and students, with excess donated to communities in need communities.  InnoVenton also provides a hand sanitiser testing service and has shared hand sanitiser production information with small to medium enterprises (SMEs).    

In September 2020, over 550 000 litres of the total produced volumes were donated by Sasol to communities or to beneficiaries through its strategic partnerships.  According to Thabiet Booley, Senior Vice President of Sasol’s Base Chemicals business, the Eastern Cape region has been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“While the number of critically ill patients have decreased, the Eastern Cape Government has indicated that they are bracing for a surge of infections which was predicted to occur between August and September.  We are delighted with the partnership established with Nelson Mandela University as it comes at a time when communities are in urgent need of hand disinfection hygiene support to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and to reduce the surge of anticipated infections”.

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science, Prof Azwinndini Muronga, who leads the hand sanitiser work stream of the COVID-19 Coordinating Committee, said the partnership bode well with the University’s efforts towards curbing the spread of the virus.

“Our efforts in the fight against COVID-19 cannot cease. Given the ongoing need for such preventative measures, we are excited to partner with Sasol to not only boost our sanitiser production, but also be able to dispatch it to those communities that need it most. This is true to our resolve to collaborate with other stakeholders in making a meaningful contribution to the communities in which we are based,” he said.

The University has commenced with production and first product is expected to reach communities from the 4th of September 2020.  Sasol and Mandela University acknowledges with gratitude the transportation of chemicals to Nelson Mandela University from Sasol by Zosi Group and PeterPan Ubuntu.

Discover other initiatives and partnerships helping our Sasol teams support our communities here.

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Plastics|SA is the licensee and project coordinator for OCS in South Africa’s plastics industry. As a signatory of the ‘Joint declaration for solutions to the problem of marine litter’ which took place during the 5th International Conference on Marine Debris, held in Honolulu in 2011, it joined the international plastics community’s commitment to address the issue of plastics in the marine environment.

Douw Steyn, Sustainability Director at Plastics|SA says spilled pellets, flakes and powder can make their way into local waterways and ultimately estuaries and the ocean. “This isn’t just an eyesore and a litter issue. Pellets, flakes and powder can be mistaken for food by birds or marine animals, and could harm them if ingested,” he explains.

As part of their plan of action to implement OCS in South Africa, Plastics|SA has developed a detailed toolkit and a manual that contains guidelines to help plastics industry operations managers reduce the accidental loss of pellets, flakes and powder from the manufacturing facility into the environment. To date, more than nine local companies, as well as the PRO’s (Producer Responsibility Organisations) such as PETCO, Polyco, the Southern African Vinyls Association and Polystyrene Association of SA have taken the OCS pledge on behalf of their members and agreed to the following six commitments in order to establish / demonstrable environmentally responsible processes:

1. Improving worksite set-up to prevent and address spills;
2. Creating and publishing internal procedures to achieve zero operations plastic material loss;
3. Providing employee training and accountability for spill prevention, containment, clean-up and disposal;
4. Auditing performance regularly;
5. Complying with all applicable state and local regulations governing operations plastics waste containment and management;
6. Encouraging value chain partners (contractors, transporters, distributors, etc.) to pursue the same goals.

Sasol as a responsible polymer producer aims to join other companies along the plastics value chain in ensuring that polymer pellets are manufactured, transported and stored responsibly until it is converted into the final product, says Bernard Klingenberg, Sasol Executive Vice President: Operations.  “Through OCS Sasol will further minimise our environmental footprint by ensuring that our polymer is managed responsibly throughout the manufacturing life cycle stages to prevent any release into the environment.”

“We have conducted internal assessments at our South African production sites and implemented improvements which include reinforcing good housekeeping practices, employee awareness, and implementation of screens on drains.  In addition, Sasol is in the process of engaging with supply chain partners to assist them where necessary in adopting these important practices”, says Klingenberg.

Leading up to the signing of the OCS Pledge Sasol undertook various activities towards becoming an OS member which include education and awareness sessions, production facility audits, and conducted self-assessments questionnaires along Sasol’s supply chain. 

Plastics | SA is highly appreciative of these results and the commitment shown by Sasol to OCS to prevent resin pellet, flake, and powder loss and help keep this material out of the marine environment and welcomes Sasol as the first raw material supplier as a signatory of OCS in South Africa.

Read more about other environmental care initiatives Sasol is involved in here.

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Our commitment to delivering social value extends beyond our factory fence line to neighbouring communities where we develop shared value, sustainable programmes aimed at meeting societal needs and improving socio-economic outcomes.

Creating social value is fundamental to our business. We realise this vision by helping society to achieve an improved standard of living by:

• Promoting joint ownership and engaging with local communities and government.
• Contributing towards poverty alleviation and reduction in unemployment.
• Driving value chain development and broader linkages to increase household income.

LEARNERSHIP PROGRAMME

To promote the development of local skills to meet the needs of the oil and gas sector; reduce unemployment and develop a much-needed pool of skilled Mozambicans, including youth, we invest in various programmes.

In partnership with Mozambique Institute of Vocational Training and Labour Studies Alberto Cassimo (IFPELAC), we have established a training centre in Inhassoro, Inhambane Province. The centre provides an artisan training programme in the areas of: welding, electrical work, process engineering and instrumentation.

In 2017, Kainda Lda, one of our business partners, issued scholarships for artisan training. Elsa Luciano Machoe Photo applied and, to her delight, was awarded a place at the Inhassoro Training Centre. Of the four courses on offer: she chose welding.

Elsa says that whenever she found the training difficult, her teacher would always motivate her to continue, which helped her to succeed.

Everything became easy, it seems difficult to weld but it isn’t. I’m happy with the training, I feel like a young woman ready for the job market.”

ELSA PHOTO – Artisan trainee

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