Corporate Social Investment

We have been a proud supporter of the South African Paralympic team since 1992. Our team achieved 6th place in the overall medal table in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

All our corporate social investment (CSI) programmes are run and managed by the Telkom Foundation which we established 10 years ago.

As a result of the Foundation’s work, we are recognised as one of the largest CSI investors in South Africa and in the year under review we invested more than R47 million, mainly in the areas of education and the roll-out of information and technology in disadvantaged communities.

As a result of this commitment, the Foundation was voted the Top Empowerment Company in CSI at the 2009 Oliver Empowerment Awards, hosted by Topco.

The Foundation’s focus on education and technology is governed by our belief that these areas are key contributors to an equal opportunity society in South Africa. One of the most powerful learning resources is the internet and by bringing this medium into classrooms around the country, educational standards will be enhanced.

It is our hope that our continued investment in these fields will help redress skills shortages, particularly in the engineering, science and IT fields.

We focused on four main projects in the year under review:

2,010 for 2010 Schools Connectivity Initiative

This is the Foundation’s biggest and most ambitious project ever. Our goal is to provide 2,010 schools across the country with internet access by 2010.

Fittingly, the initiative was launched in February 2009 by our CEO, Reuben September, at his former school, Grassy Park High School in Cape Town.

Each participating school will receive an internet connection; discounted broadband subscription rates and interactive electronic whiteboards and laptops.

Grassy Park also received an Internet Café for use by not only the learners, but the community. If this pilot programme is successful, it will be rolled out to the other schools as part of the overall initiative.

Beacon of Hope

This programme, which was launched in 2006, is designed to develop promising young learners into future leaders by placing top students from under-resourced schools in some of the country’s leading high schools.

The Foundation pays for the tuition and boarding fees; uniforms; books and stationery for the 186 learners enrolled in the programme.

Giving from the Heart

Initiated by our Human Resources department to encourage employees to give something back to the community, the project was taken over by the Foundation in 2006.

Employees can either donate a portion of their salary to Giving from the Heart projects; donate their time and skills to projects, or identify their own charities to which they contribute either money or time. The Telkom Foundation matches every rand an employee donates with the same amount.

In the year under review, the Foundation launched an Employee Volunteer Week which resulted in our people working and assisting at the Tumelo Hospice in Mabopane; the Centre of Hope in Mahwelereng; the Nokuthula School for the Intellectually Disabled in Marlboro; the Uthando Orphanage House in Hazyview; St Patrick’s College in Kokstad and the Hospice Association of Transkei in Southernworld.

Sponsorships

In the year under review various grants were made to organisations ranging from Childline to Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity (Noah) in line with our commitment to improving the lot of previously disadvantaged communities.

Going forward

In the next financial year, the Telkom Foundation will launch the Telkom Teacher of the Year awards to honour South Africa’s top maths, science and technology educators at the Further Education and Training and the General Education and Training level. The awards will be made in August 2009.

Sponsorships

Sponsorships continue to be an important part of our brand building and reputation management strategies. In the year under review we focused on soccer, swimming and golf.

Soccer

For the third consecutive year we sponsored the Telkom Knockout, a Premier Soccer League (‘PSL’) event played by all 16 PSL teams between October and December. It is a knockout event that plays a major role in honing South Africa’s soccer skills.

For the ninth consecutive year we also sponsored the Telkom Charity Cup, a one day PSL event where the fans choose the four competing teams. The teams who receive the most telephone and SMS votes play in a round robin series of games. A significant portion of the money generated by ticket sales and telephone voting is given to charities working with children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Some 695,000 fans voted in the 2008 event and R4.6 million was raised for the charitable organisations.

2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup

Telkom is a tier three National Supporter within the fixed-line environment. The biggest sporting event in the world is the perfect platform for Telkom to showcase its ICT capabilities. In June 2009, the Confederations Cup was utilised as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup finals in 2010. Telkom exceeded all FIFA’s requirements in ensuring that broadcasting and media requirements were met. Telkom has approximately 128,000 cable kilometres of optical fibre in the ground – enough to circle the world three times. This is more than enough fibre to support the massive amounts of bandwidth that FIFA will need in 2010.

Swimming

Since 2000, we have sponsored Swimming South Africa, a public benefit organisation which promotes all aquatic sports in the country. In addition to many South African swimming stars such as Ryk Neethling, Natalie du Toit and Roland Schoeman, Swimming South Africa has played a key role in boosting public awareness of swimming as a life and survival skill. Swimming contributes towards the Company’s objectives of being a caring organisation, as the sport offers opportunities for both able and disabled people.

Drowning remains a major cause of death among children under the age of 14 and, as a result of our support for Swimming South Africa’s ‘Learn to Swim’ programme, many children and adults in the country have the opportunity to learn to swim.

The programme is sub-divided into the ‘Pool Splash’ project which focuses on safe swimming in pools; the ‘Ocean Splash’ project which concentrates on sea swimming and the ‘Rural Splash’ project which concentrates on swimming in rivers and dams.

Golf

Our Telkom Business golf sponsorships – the Telkom PGA Championships, the Telkom PGA Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour and two Telkom Business Pro-Ams – enable us to position our brand in the business environment. They also enable us to introduce new products and reinforce our relationship marketing programme.

We also have a presence on Sunshine Tour tournaments such as the SA Open and the Nedbank Golf Challenge. In addition we are a broadcast sponsor of international events like the European Tour and World Gold championships.

Paralympics

Telkom has been a proud supporter of the South African Paralympics team since 1992. Our team achieved 6th place on the overall medal table in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Paralympics are not only about sport; they are about hope, pride, inspiration and courage. Telkom is honoured to align our brand with this message of upliftment.