38
ArcelorMittal South Africa
Sustainability Report for 2008
Our impact in the community
Most material
community-related
issues:
• Community engagement
• Community upliftment
through significant projects
• Promoting employee
volunteerism
It is ArcelorMittal South Africa's profound belief
that business success is inextricably bound with
responsible business conduct, through careful
consideration of the impact of our actions not
only on the bottom line, but on the world in which
we operate. For the communities where we have
operations, our goal of
"transforming tomorrow"
requires that we take an active interest in their
development and wellbeing.
The South African Communist Party also delivered
a memorandum to our Vanderbijlpark premises
citing dissatisfaction among the local community
on a number of issues, including pollution, the
privatisation of the company and the need for
social development initiatives to help uplift local
people and combat poverty.
A strategy to guide us
We welcome the opportunity to discuss these
issues with community members and leaders,
and recognise that historica
l
y, community
engagement has been one of our most difficult
challenges. During the year the company started
moving steadily towards establishing constructive
relationships with various community stakeholders.
Critical success factors
of our community
engagement plan:
• Stakeholder participation
and integration
• Government-business-
community partnerships
• Capacity building within
communities
• Achieving tangible and
sustainable results
• Good governance and
project management
• Providing platforms for
dialogue and engagement
Opening the door to dialogue
During the year under review, there were several
interactions by the company with the communities
in which we operate as well as a number of NGOs.
At an international level, NGOs representing
the interests of communities attended the
ArcelorMittal group’s AGM in Luxembourg to
air grievances about how our global operations
impact the lives of surrounding communities. The
Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) and
Groundwork were part of the advocacy groups
represented at this gathering. The key issues raised
were problems of pollution, health and safety
standards and lack of information and engagement.
The global ArcelorMittal Group has embarked on
a process to ensure open dialogue and ongoing
communication with all stakeholder groups,
including communities. It began by mapping
stakeholder groups, identifying their key issues and
documenting the current state of engagement,
with the ultimate aim of establishing engagement
forums for all
groups.
