Karabo Harry0315956W5/13/2011

2011

MTN Group Corporate EthicsEthical code versus reality

ABSTRACT: This document analyzes the culture of corporate ethics in the MTN Group. The first section offers a definition of business ethics as branch of ethics, while the second section looks at popular ethical practices (straw men) in relation to philosophical ethics. The MTN Group Code of Ethics is summarised in the third section and followed in the fourth section by an assessment of the Groups ethical practices in reality. A set of recommendations, in section five, precedes the conclusion.

PLEASE NOTE HOW I HAVE RE-WRITTEN THE ABSTRACT!!!

Dear K:

A fine report – well researched.

Two significant and related problems exist with the current draft.

First, it’s not clear that you use the ethical framework to be found in Hill, or developed in our class, to create an ethical framework of your own. It’s not entirely clear that you understand the key concepts – eg, you appear to treat Kantian and deontological ethics as if they were identical in this assignment.

Second, a clear ethical framework does not inform your analysis. You simply describe – often quite rightly – MTN’s behaviour as ethically repugnant.

That said, your paper does contrast MTN’s Code of Ethics with its actual practice of ethics. Your evaluations and conclusions – throughout the paper -- are both interesting and damning. Therein lies the real strength of the paper. Had you been able to tie the literature review and your own ethical framework to the critiques of MTNs practices, you would have had an even stronger paper.

Grade: 70.Shap shap

Stu

Table of Contents

1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................3

2. Popular ethical practises................................................................................................................3

2.1. Straw men ethics:..................................................................................................................4

2.2. Other views on ethics:...........................................................................................................4

3. MTN Group: Code of Ethics...........................................................................................................5

4. Corporate ethics in practice...........................................................................................................5

4.1. MTN Group Code of ethics.........................................................................................................5

4.2 Expansion strategy: The MENA region.........................................................................................6

4.3. MTN Group: On competition and tariffs.....................................................................................8

5. Recommendations.......................................................................................................................10

6. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................11

7. References...................................................................................................................................11

Appendix.............................................................................................................................................12

3.1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................12

3.1.1. Purpose..............................................................................................................................12

3.1.2. Policy.................................................................................................................................12

3.1.3. Understanding the Code....................................................................................................12

3.2. Compliance with the laws and regulations...............................................................................12

3.3. Conflict of interest....................................................................................................................12

3.3.1. Outside activities, employment and directorships.............................................................13

3.3.2. Relationship with clients, customers and suppliers...........................................................13

3.3.3. Gifts, Hospitality and favours.............................................................................................13

3.4. Employment equity..................................................................................................................14

3.5. Environmental responsibility....................................................................................................15

3.6. Political support........................................................................................................................15

3.7. Group's funds and property......................................................................................................15

3.8. Group's records........................................................................................................................15

3.9. Dealing with outside persons and organizations......................................................................15

3.10. Privacy and confidentiality......................................................................................................16

3.11. Contravention of the Code.....................................................................................................16

1. Introduction

Within philosophy there are numerous sub-disciplines. Broadly speaking ethics is the branch

that discusses issues of morality. Morality deals with notions of good and bad, justice,

fairness, right and wrong, and the way we develop and apply our values. Meta-ethics is

concerned with various theories that promote ideas of what constitute the good. Normative

ethics applies standards or norms and reaches conclusions about what we ought to do.

Business ethics is an area within normative ethics that is concerned with the special moral

issues and concerns that arise in business. (Gibson, 2007)

Businesses operate within a country, environment and society. Depending on the industry

the business is in, its operations might have negative, positive or no externalities 1.

Businesses that have negative externalities have a greater moral obligation towards the

communities they operate within owing to the social costs of those externalities. In the past

some businesses have made super economic profits at the expense of stakeholders, without

any regard to the social costs. These companies have engaged in fraudulent, corrupt and

other unethical practises. henceAs a result, the ethical practices of businesses ethics have

come under greater scrutiny, giving birth to regulatory bodies that seek to enforce ethical

business practices.

The notion of Bbusiness eEthics can be conceived of in two distinct mannerstake on two

meanings:

Individuals uphold ethics of the companies that employ them and not personal ethics: This

culminates in employees making decision based on company protocol “maximise profits”

and not person judgment even if the latter is ethically more sound than the former.

or

Individuals uphold a single set of ethics that applies throughout their lives: This

notion of business ethics is not circumstantialrelevant. , iIndividuals act ethically

even if it means losing their jobs. (Gibson, 2007)

1 Costs or benefits of business operations that are borne or enjoyed by parties not directly involved in the business activities, third-party effects or spill-over effects

2. Popular ethical practises

A summary of some of the popular ethics theories is given below and shall be referred to

throughout the documents.

2.1. Straw men ethics:

“Business ethics scholars raise straw men approaches primarily to demonstrate that they

offer inappropriate guidelines for ethical decision making in multinational enterprises”.(Hill,

2011)

Friedman Doctrine: ‘Business of Business is Business’. This notion asserts that the

only social responsibility a business has is to make profits while abiding by the law.

Cultural Relativism: ‘When in Rome do as the Romans do’. A view that sees ethics as

nothing more than a cultural construct, as cultures differ from one place to another

so do ethics.

The Righteous Moralist: Practicing home country ethical standards in a foreign

country. An ethical practice that occurs when a Multi National Enterprise tries to

enforce its home country’s business ethics in an emerging market context.

The Naive Immoralist: Do what other MNCs are practicing in a foreign country. The

view that if the majority is practicing similar behaviour then it is justifiable to follow

suit (Hill, 2011).

2.2. Other views on ethics:

Kantian: treat people as ends themselves not as means to an end.

Utilitarian: ethics arean action is justified ethically if it by the action that yields the

best results for the majority. This ethical point of view is all about selecting an action

whose consequences leaves most people better off even if some people are left

worse off.

Ubuntu: an African philosophy that enforces respect, development and

consideration of everyone in society for the benefit of the collective.

Deontological ethics: derived from the Greek word for “duty”, deontological ethics

stresses the ethical centrality of such things as duties, principles, and obligations. It

denies that all ethical judgements can be made in terms of consequences. (Gibson,

2007)

Rights Theories: the recognition that all humans have rights2 by virtue of being

human, these rights transcend beyond culture, norms and society. Compliance of the

rules stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Moral agents3

have a duty to see to it that these human rights are not violated.

3. MTN Group: Code of Ethics

Please refer to the Appendix to see a summary of the MTN Group Code of Ethics.

4. Corporate ethics in practice

Some of the ethical issues that Multi National Corporations (MNCs) face on a daily basis

include; employment practices, human rights, environmental pollution, corruption and

moral obligation (Hill, 2011). Any violation of these ethical issues might lend a business in

serious trouble with the law, ethics enforcing bodies such as the United National Global

Compact (UNGC) and activist, culminating in reputational damage or worse. Hence it's in the

best interest of a company to practice nothing but the best business ethics.

4.1. MTN Group Code of ethics The MTN Group code of ethics does address some of the issues outlined above;

a) Environmental responsibility, (Appendix, section 3.5.) MTN Group environmental

drive is run like a well oiled machine. The Groups Environmental Management

Program is committed to using best industry practises when building infrastructure,

other initiatives include minimisation of waste, prevention of pollution and

responsible land management, including managing the impact on flora, fauna, water

and wildlife (Group, 2005). The MTN SA Group is an ISO 14001 Certificated

Company4.(Pienaar, 2011)b) Anti-corruption is the key underlying theme that runs throughout the Code of Ethics.

The MTN Group does not take lightly to unlawful activities such as fraud, money

laundering, bribery etc. The Ethical Code states in black and white that anyone in

contravention of the code shall be dealt with either by dismissal or handed over to

the law depending on the contravention.2 Those rights that individuals have simply in virtue of being human being, also called natural or moral rights3A moral agent is any person or institutions capable of moral action such a government of corporation. 4

c) The Employment equity section (Appendix, section 3.4) talks about the Groups

employment practices looking at; discrimination, disability, illness and Black

Economic Empowerment. The Group BBBEE competent across the following

spectrum; equity ownership, management, employment equity, skills development,

procurement, enterprise development, and corporate social investment (Group,

2011a). MTN Group also participated in a BEE shares scheme called ‘Zakhele’, which

a Zulu word for build it yourself.

d) The code of ethics does not address the Groups moral obligation however the MTN

group does engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Social

Investment (CSI) programs. (Group, 2011b)

The MTN Group Code of Ethics however fails to address human rights issues, the company

stance on competition as well as a pricing structure (regulated to an extent). These issues

are quite key important in the South African Telecommunications industry more so in the

South African context because of the small number of the number of key players and the

potential for market growth.

4.2 Expansion strategy: The MENA region.

Currently MTN Group Limited (MTN Group) has mobile licenses across 21 countries in Africa

and the Middle East. The Group operates in the following three regions: (Group, 2011b)

South and East Africa (SEA), which includes: MTN South Africa, MTN Swaziland, MTN

Zambia, MTN Uganda, MTN Rwanda and Mascom Botswana.

West and Central Africa (WECA), which includes: MTN Nigeria, MTN Cameroon,

MTN Congo-Brazzaville, MTN Cote d’Ivoire, MTN Benin, MTN Ghana, MTN Guinea-

Bissau, MTN Guinea Conakry and Lonestar Liberia, and

Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which includes MTN: Irancell, MTN

Afghanistan, MTN Cyprus, MTN Sudan, MTN Syria and MTN Yemen.

When a company expands into a new region as part of its globalisation strategy, an ethical

strategy should at least inform that decision, this is necessary because some countries don’t

respect human rights. South Africa pre 1994 is quintessential of this fact. One can dispute

the ethics of MNCs that traded in South Africa during the apartheid era; were their

globalisation strategy informed to an extent by an ethical strategy? Were profits put before

human rights and political unrest issues? Was it judicious to invest in such a country? What

reputational damage could it deal to the business? Will investing in a country with serious

human rights issues mean that the company supports the current status quo or regime?

These are some of the ethical questions corporations need to ask when going into a new

region.

Looking at the MENA region (excluding Cyprus), which is plagued by political, social and

economical issues. Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Yemen according to the 2011 Index

of Economic Freedom all scored below the world average for economic freedom (Journal,

2011). This index measures eEconomic fFreedom5 in 183 countries using the following

componentscriteria: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government

spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights

freedom, freedom from corruption and labour freedom.

The scale below is used to rank countries;

DISTRIBUTION OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC FREEDOM

100-80 79.9-70 69.9-60 59.9-50 49.9-0 N/A

free mostly free moderately free mostly un-free repressed not ranked

Table 1: Economic freedom index rankings (Journal, 2011)

Both Afghanistan and Sudan were not ranked owing to unreliable data. Iran, Syria and

Yemen came well below the world average, as seen below.

5 Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labour and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, with that freedom both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state. In economically free societies, governments

Figure 1: Graphical representation of the Economic Freedom Index (freedom, 2011)

These countries are non-members States of the United Nations (UN) (Rights, 2011). Human rights issues such as; arrests and detentions, rape and other torture, unfair trials, discrimination against women, freedom of expression and association, cruel, inhumane and degrading punishments, discrimination of ethnic and religious minorities are quite prevalent (International, 2011).

The MTN Group expansion strategy is a ‘low penetration and high population’, coupled with a ferocious appetite for risk. The Group takes a neutral position and practices cultural relativism (Rajha, 2011). Thus social unrest, human rights issues and political instability play a meagre role if any.

This form of corporate expansion strategy can be seen viewed as applying the two variations of straw men ethics (Friedman doctrine and Cultural Relativism). On these accounts, It’s every business may right to move into regions which have a potential to yield profits. hHowever one can argue that this should be coupled with an intention to create change or improve the well being and livelihoods of individuals and groups within those countries. , this is a moral obligation of all corporations. The MTN Group is a South African company, a move into a countries that don’t value human rights is in conflict with South African history, given the injustice that the apartheid system dealt the country. Investing in countries that don’t respect human rights for pure economic profit motives is ethically disputablerepugnant..

4.3. MTN Group: On competition and tariffs The South African Competition Commission has launched an investigation of possible

collusion between the MTN Group and Vodacom. The Commission claims that the two

major mobile network providers in South Africa have been engaging in anti-competitive

practices to keep Cell C out of the game. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Nandi

Mokoena (Competition Commission’s manager of strategy and stakeholder relations) told

Reuters that the mobile operators were being under investigation for price collusion.

(Lourie, 2009)

This matter is still under investigation however a survey conducted by The South African

Foundation on Telecommunications (fixed and mobile calls costs) Prices in South Africa,

revealing that South Africa has some of the highest prices in the whole world compared to

our peer group. (Foundation, 2005). Other sources showed this fact. (act, 2011)

...”Last year the department commissioned an international benchmark study to see how

South Africa compared to five countries - Chile, South Korea, India, Brazil and Malaysia - in

terms of cost, usage, access and quality of services. Some of the startling findings include:”

Mobile tariffs are the most expensive in South Africa;

Mobile broadband tariffs for high volumes are the most expensive in South Africa;

South Africa has the second highest SMS prices; and

All of the countries have maximum broadband speeds that are faster than South

Africa. (Pather, 2009)

Some call the telecom industry in South Africa an “easy-money industry”. It is obviously

ethical for a company to make profits. hHowever it business practice becomes unethical

when excessive profits are gained by exploiting workers, consumers, the environment or

engaging in anti-competitive behaviour. Profits look especially questionable when CEOs and

directors , particularly when operating in emerging markets while the company directors get

paid inflated salaries and bonuses (Businessweek, 2011).

Executive Total salary 2009/2010Phuthuma Nhleko (MTN CEO) R15,694,000Rob Shuter (Vodacom CFO) R14,205,882 (includes sign-on and restraint of trade bonus)Pieter Uys (Vodacom CEO) R10,700,571Shameel Joosub (Vodacom SA MD) R9,452,685Sifiso Dabengwa (MTN Executive) R8,291,000

Telecoms Executives Total Salary

Table 2: Telecoms executive salaries (Mybroadband, 2010)

The MTN Group takes a stance that when technology is new in a country prices are often

high because the initial infrastructure investment should be realised recouped (Rajha,

2011). The regulator seems blasé about the pricing structure for SA telecoms. seem to

command in South Africa. The Government has stepped in and asked MTN and Vodacom to

slash tariffs before 2012.

The MTN Group currently boast 147.265 million subscribers and an average income per

subscriber of R137 (Report, 2011)., Tthe group has been in business for over a decade and

reaped massive profits -- surely the capital costs incurred can’t still be used as an excuse to

over-charge clients. This conclusion is buttressed by the fact that , more so when thethe

broadband speed provided is one of the slowest in the world when compared to peer group

countries. Surely, capital costs ought to be invested to increase broadband width,

Cell C has been viewed as a free-rider by both MTN and Vodacom. Both firms state, stating

that Cell C can afford to charge low fees because they are using MTN and Vodacom

infrastructure. This thought process is used to justify the interconnection cost of R1.25 that

the two big network providers charge.

5. RecommendationsAt the heart of most unethical business practices lies flawed Decision making processes,

leadership, unrealistic performance goals, organisation culture and personal ethics (Hill,

2011). The MTN Group Code of Ethics covers some of the key issues quite well. hHowever

more canould be done.

The Group should look into including the following into their code:

Human rights

Competition policy

Fair pricing declaration

Responsible marketing practices

I feel these issues are quite crucially informative and should be included in a Multi National

Enterprise Code of Ethics. This would really show how ethical the MTN Group is since the

South African Telecom regulator is quite relaxed.

MTN should look into incorporating an ethical strategy that informs some of their

expansion strategies. It is not good enough in this day and age to do business purely for

monetary gains especially in emerging markets, as Henry Ford eloquently put it;

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business”.

6. Conclusion

Business ethics have been an extremely contentious issue for years. Business practices are

not getting any better because regulatory bodies are not stringent when enforcing the law.

Greed and corruption fuels corporate decision making processes, profit maximisation comes

before ethical practices undermining consumer’s intelligence. Corporations have failed to

show initiative to be ethical on their accord hence Regulators and Governments should

intervene because the social cost is borne by the stakeholders not executives.

7. Referencesact, B. (2011) SOUTH AFRICA TELECOMS 'AMONG WORLD'S MOST COSTLY', SAYS NEW SURVEY, (Last

updated on), accessed 302, from http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/en/issue-no-302/telecoms/south-africa-telecom/en.

Businessweek, B. ( 2011),Foundation, S. A. (2005) Telecommunications prices in South Africa An international peer group

comparison, (Last updated on, from http://www.businessleadership.org.za/documents/12568Telecomm_web.pdf.

freedom, I. o. e. (2011) Visualize the Scores,Gibson, K. (2007) Ethics and Business, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Group, M. (2005) Integrated Business Report, (Last updated on, from

http://annualreport.mtn.com/sr_environmental.htm#01.Group, M. (2011a) BEE Overview, (Last updated on, from

http://www.mtnsp.co.za/MTNBusiness/BEE/Pages/BEEOverview.aspx.Group, M. (2011b) MTN Group Website, (Last updated on, from

http://www.mtn.com/Pages/Home.aspx.

Hill, C. W. L. (2011) International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, Eighth ed., MacGraw-Hill, New York.

International, A. (2011) Human Rights in Countries, (Last updated on, from http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries.

Journal, T. H. F. T. W. S. (2011) 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, (Last updated on 2011), accessed May, 2011, from http://www.heritage.org/Index/ranking.

Lourie, G. (2009) REFILE-UPDATE 2-Vodacom, MTN deny price collusion allegations, (Last updated on, from http://in.reuters.com/article/2009/10/15/safrica-mobile-idINLF50086120091015.

Mackintosh, M. M. R. (2011) Code of Ethics, In GROUP”, M. G. L. A. S. A. T. (ed.),Mybroadband (2010) Telecom Executives Total Salary,Pather, B. N. a. S. (2009) Cellphone firms forced to slash their prices (Last updated on, from

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article145720.ece.Pienaar, K. (2011) MTN’s Environmental Policy (Last updated on, from

http://www.mtn.co.za/AboutMTN/EnvironmentalSustainability/Pages/default.aspx.Rajha, Y.-R. C. (2011) MTN Group Business Ethics, Telephone conversation ed., Johannesburg.Report, B. (2011) MTN subscribers rise 4% to 147m, (Last updated on, from

http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/mtn-subscribers-rise-4-to-147m-1.1065438.Rights, U. N. H. (2011) Human Rights by Country, (Last updated on, from

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx.

Appendix

3.1. Introduction.

3.1.1. Purpose. A code of ethics serves as a boundary within which employees, directors

and stakeholders (where applicable) of a company should operate. It serves as guide line for

a company's employees when making day to day business decisions, raising and maintaining

ethical awareness, company's expectations and ethical stance.

“The Group's philosophy is to conduct it's affairs with uncompromising honesty, integrity,

diligence and professionalism and to be recognised for these qualities by all its

stakeholders”(Mackintosh, 2011)

The MTN group encourages employees to rely on their personal ethics over and above the

Groups ethics code when making business decisions stating;

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” ~ Confucius

3.1.2. Policy. The code of ethics policy is endorsed by Company's Board of Directors and is

based on the fundamental belief that business should be conducted honestly, fairly and

legally. (Mackintosh, 2011) . The Group expects its employees, directors and stakeholders to

practice the highest ethics standards and nothing less.

3.1.3. Understanding the Code. Compliance with the Code by employees, directors and

stakeholders is compulsory throughout the group. If anyone is suspected to be in breach of

the Code, the matter should be escalated and will be dealt with as set out in Contravention

of the Code section.

3.2. Compliance with the laws and regulations. The MTN Group does not condone any

unethical or illegal business operations such as; fraud, money laundering, bribery etc.

3.3. Conflict of interest. Owing to relationships that employees and directors might have

with the outside world a conflict of interest might arise. Any action, obligation or interest

that might cause an employee, director or stakeholder of MTN Group to act in a way that

does not put the best interest of the company first is a conflict of interest.

“A conflict could arise where an employee, a member of an employee's family or a business

with which the employee of family is associated obtains a gain, advantage or profit by virtue

of the employee's position with the Group, or knowledge gained through that position”

(Mackintosh, 2011)

3.3.1. Outside activities, employment and directorships. Employees are encouraged

to partake in activities outside the Group provided that those activities are not in conflict

with the group's activities. Employees' private activities should not be so demanding on

their energy, time and attention to an extent that their contribution to the MTN Group

suffers.

Outside employment might not be taken before prior approval by management.

3.3.2. Relationship with clients, customers and suppliers. Employees are expected to

be independent and are seen as independent from all organisations that have contractual

business obligations with the MTN Group. They may neither invest nor acquire financial

interest in such companies before approval by an Executive Director is given. If such

relationships arise they should not influence the employee's business decision making

process and being dutiful towards the Group. When dealing with clients, customers and

suppliers Group employees should:

Never accept or pay any bribes to suppliers, protect the suppliers data and consider

creditors financial situation whenever requesting any payment extension.

Keep business and personal life separate.

3.3.3. Gifts, Hospitality and favours. Gifts, hospitality and favours could be perceived to

influence the employees' judgement in relations to business transactions hence employees

should neither give nor accept gifts, hospitality and favours from organisations that have

business contracts with the MTN Group with the following exceptions;

Employees may accept advertising matter of limited commercial value.

Employees may give or accept occasional business entertainment and hospitality

such as free tickets. Local hospitality getaways with prior consent from a superior,

the CEO need to approve oversees hospitality.

Gifts above R1 000 should be declared to superior and company secretary, and no

gifts above R 5 000 should be accepted.

Cellular devices and related accessories up to the value of R10 000. The Groups

employee may supply the Groups/subsidiaries branded products on a limited basis.

(Mackintosh, 2011)

Employees should neither offer personal favours nor preferential treatment to customers or

suppliers representatives that place some obligation to the recipient. Investments

All employers are permitted to invest provided their investments are not in conflict with the

Groups interest and all sensitive information should be kept private and confidential. The

ethics of employees that make investment decisions on behalf of the Group are governed by

the Companies Act, Insider Trading, SEC Regulation Panel and other regulatory bodies,

industry associations and management. Employees are not to act injudiciously and

unethically owing to the pressures placed on them by shareholders unrealistic expectations.

3.4. Employment equity.

“The company strongly rejects notions of 'window dressing' or tokenism and believes it is in

the best interest of the business, the individual employees and peers to know that

employment in the Group is on merit, rather than simply an individual's race or other

criterion unrelated to their capacity to do the job” (Mackintosh, 2011)

The company supports BEE and the advancement of blacks and females in managerial

positions throughout the Group. All employees have the right to work in a discrimination

free environment. All employees may continue to work for the Group irrespective of their

illness or disabilities provided that the quality of their work is maintained and they are not a

health hazard to their colleagues as well as themselves.

3.5. Environmental responsibility. All MTN Group operations that pose a real safety and

health hazard are to be reported by employees as set out in the Contravention of the Code

of Ethics. The Group is committed to developing policies addressing operations that impact

the environment negatively through measures such as; pollution control, waste

management and rehabilitation activities.

3.6. Political support. Employees' political affiliations are private and the Group respects

political activity and supports it as long as it does not cause any workplace disruptions and

industrial unrest.

3.7. Group's funds and property. The Groups funds, property, goods or services shall not

be used for any activity other than its normal business function, special authorisation is

necessary when a need arises. Group funds can be spent by an employee given 'good

judgement' is used and the usage such expenditure should generate value on behalf of the

Group. Speculation using financial derivatives is not permitted; the use of such instruments

should be for risk mitigation only, within detailed parameters of the MTN Group risk

management policies. All employees should report fraudulent and inappropriate usage of

funds as set out in the Contravention of the Code.

3.8. Group's records. Employees responsible for the handling of financial records should

adhere to ethical accounting practices. The Group does not permit omission of revenues,

expenses, assets and/or liabilities from financial records.

3.9. Dealing with outside persons and organizations. Communication with the outside

world should be prompt, courteous and accurate. Complaints are dealt with using

established internal protocol. All as a general rule the Group's senior management should

deal with the Group's position on public policy or industry issues. Employees should not

speak on behalf of the Group unless their views are ones shared by the Group and it's the

Groups desire to make those views public. The CEO or Group's Secretary should be

consulted first before an employee may engage a media official. When employees comment

on matters not involving the MTN Group they should separate their personal roles from the

Group position.

The MTN Group obligations to the society are;

To uplift the communities in which it operates, within its means

Respect the law, rights and dignity of others

Pay all taxes and other duties as the required by law

3.10. Privacy and confidentiality. It's the employees' responsibility to safeguard the

Group's or Customer's confidential and private information. Divulging such information

without following the proper procedures is not permitted.

3.11. Contravention of the Code.

“As contravention of the code is a serious matter, it may result in disciplinary action,

including the termination of employment. Certain breaches of the Code could also result in

civil or criminal proceeding” (Mackintosh, 2011)

All suspected and actual contraventions of the Code are to be reported to management,

Human Resource practitioner or commercial legal service. All incidences will be handled

with confidentiality.