Past examples in SA of consequences from ESG non-compliance
| Category | Company | Offence | Repercussions |
Environmental |
 |
Breaking environmental laws – pollution at its Vanderbijlpark plant, south of Johannesburg (June 2019) | Given a R 3.6 million fine for violating three atmospheric emissions licence conditions at its Vanderbijlpark operations, |
Social |
 |
low wages, poor working conditions. Huge gap between workers and shareholders. Unfulfilled SLP commitment to build workers accommodation. Lonmin has provided false or misleading information to its shareholders and stakeholders. |
More than 60,000 miners participated in a series of strikes across several of SA’s most important platinum and gold mines. High profile negative publicity – “massacre” Immediate share price drop of 15%. Knock on industry effect – Shareholder dividends ceased since 2011. |
Governance |
 |
Steinhoff inflated its profits and assets by R250 billion. Used many accounting tricks and forged documents to boost its value. Conducted deals with companies that were secretly linked to former CEO Markus Jooste and his cronies. Markus Jooste granted himself an undeclared bonus and a loan from Steinhoff. Steinhoff execs received ‘golden visas’ in a property transaction related to the company |
Its price plunged by 98% after auditing firm Deloitte discovered “accounting irregularities” and refused to sign-off on the company’s books. Jooste resigned days later. Markus Jooste has been fined R162 million by FSCA for insider trading. Steinhoff was hit with a R13.5 million fine by the JSE for breaching listing requirements, including by publishing false and misleading information. |