Demonstrate consistently ethical business conduct

Overview

For Motus, integrity means always acting with honesty, fairness and transparency and respecting each other, our customers and the communities in which we operate. We operate as a well-governed and ethical company. The trust that OEMs, customers and other stakeholders place in Motus is an outcome of reliability, which requires consistent integrity. This trust is also key to our ability to continue to grow.

It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that good corporate governance practices and principles are applied to maintain high standards of accountability, transparency and integrity. Our leaders are responsible for driving this ethical culture. Employees are responsible for exercising good judgement and obtaining guidance on appropriate business conduct, when needed. The Motus code of ethics guides them in this responsibility.

Maintaining a moral compass is critical in these challenging times where a poor economic climate, exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19, may lead to increased incidents of fraud, corruption and misconduct, including by employees. Unethical behaviour is not tolerated and all instances of alleged misconduct or discrimination reported to management or received through the whistle-blowing hotline are thoroughly investigated.

The return to work after the COVID-19 lockdown ended was undertaken fairly and with an understanding that increased levels of engagement were needed between managers, supervisors and employees. Our reopening was undertaken conservatively and in a staggered approach, ensuring that all businesses met Department of Health regulations and health and safety standards. Our decisions regarding the remuneration of our employees, particularly those who earn commission on sales, were guided by our code of ethics and values.

The impact of COVID-19 on our workforce

Protecting our stakeholders during COVID-19

		Our ethical promises:

		Nothing but the truth Create an environment where honesty and accountability flourish and compliance is a central focus. A commitment across Motus to maintain the highest ethical standards in all business dealings.
		Everyone, everywhere Every employee representing or working for Motus is expected to follow the code of ethics at all times. All persons, including service providers, sub-contractors and business partners, are required to act consistently with the code of ethics when acting on Motus' behalf.
		Higher standards for managers All managers have additional responsibilities to create an open environment in which employees feel comfortable to ask questions, raise concerns and report misconduct. Leaders with behavioural integrity are valued and promoted.

Approach

Management and governance structures

Ethics governance framework

Ethics is a standing agenda item for the SES committee. Our ethics governance framework includes the Motus code of ethics, our Group anti-bribery and corruption policy and conflict of interest policy. The ethics framework applies Group-wide with variations based on regional requirements.

We adhere to the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the South African Constitution and the International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Motus UK and Motus Australia have additional policies linked to Modern Day Slavery Acts. In the UK, we are required to annually provide an anti-modern day slavery statement on our website and Motus Australia is required to report annually against the requirements of Australia's Modern Day Slavery Act.

Our supplier code of conduct sets out our expectations of our suppliers, and we will not hesitate to terminate agreements and relationships that contravene international human rights standards.

Independent service providers manage our whistle-blowing hotline, which supports anonymous reporting by all stakeholders. Any stakeholder is able to report concerns, unlawful, dishonest, disrespectful and environmentally unfriendly behaviour.

Additional information

Hotline tel: 0800 666 005

Hotline email: motus@tip-offs.com

Our code of ethics, anti-bribery and corruption policy, conflict of interest policy and supply chain code of conduct are available at https://www.motuscorp.co.za/responsibility/our-people/.

Accountability

Business segment CEOs are responsible for ensuring that employees are aware of the Group's values and commitment to acting with integrity.

Stakeholder engagement

Internal engagement

Ethics awareness and training, customised for each business segment, ensure that our people understand the behaviours we expect of them and their ethical responsibilities. During the year, the Group CEO reinforced in all his messaging that we expect employees to maintain our moral compass. The need for ethical leadership and our zero tolerance for fraud was included in all financial presentations to employees.

External engagement

We are a member of the Gordon Institute of Business Science Ethics and Governance Think Tank, which gives us access to thought leadership on ethics management.

2020 performance

105 (2019: 127) tip-offs were registered on the whistle-blowing hotline, which remained active during COVID-19 lockdowns. All reports received were investigated by year-end. Only 16% of the fraud- and governance-related tip-offs were valid concerns where disciplinary or remedial action was required. Most of the tip-offs were human resources related. At June 2020, two tip-offs were received relating to employee safety and COVID-19, and were effectively closed.
Sub-categorised the human resources-related tip-offs received through the whistle-blowing hotline to gain better insight into the nature of the material concerns. We are also revising certain whistle-blowing processes to ensure that the hotline is used to report valid concerns and to improve the tracking of reported incidents.
Other than the valid concerns raised through the whistle-blowing hotline, there were no material breaches of the code of ethics. Internal audits did not identify any material concerns relating to bribery and corruption, unethical business practices or human rights risks.
Started investigating new compliance training that covers a wide range of issues, including awareness training on the newly approved sexual harassment policy.
No public legal cases regarding corruption were brought against Motus, any of its operations or its employees during the reporting period. There are no legal actions pending or completed during the reporting period regarding anti-competitive behaviour and violations of anti-trust and monopoly legislation.

Key data

	2020	2019	2018

Whistle-blowing hotline (Group)
Total number of tip-offs registered	105	127	110
By category:
– Fraud	11	16	12
– Governance	8	11	16
– Human resources¹	73	79	65
– Enquiry	5	5	1
– Other crime	1	0	2
– Corruption	4	4	5
– Theft	3	9	7
– Fleet management irregularities	0	2	1
– Procurement irregularities	0	1	1

¹	Includes incidents of alleged discrimination. Sub-categories have been established and will be reported next year.