Motus CEO Ockert Janse van Rensburg joins sustainability committee

Ockert Jacobus Janse van Rensburg, who officially took on the CEO role at Motus Holdings on 1 November 2024, is now also a member of the automotive group’s Social, Ethics and Sustainability Committee. He joins Fundiswa Roji (chairperson), Ashley Tugendhaft and Lesego Sennelo on that board sub-committee.

In its ESG report for the year ended 30 June 2024, Fundiswa made specific mention of Motus’ readiness to support the transition to NEVs.

“The dtic’s Electric Vehicles White Paper and proposed roadmap for SA’s transition to NEV manufacturing, released in November 2023, is a welcome step forward in SA’s plans to transition to a lower carbon economy. Motus participates actively in the South African government’s consultations with the private sector on NEVs. We stand ready to support this transition, pending the necessary policy changes and infrastructure rollout, informed by our firsthand experience of the transition in our international markets,” she noted.

Breaking down the three areas, under environment, the report linked climate change to the company’s top risks, with specific mention of extreme weather events, regulatory changes like emissions tax and minimum energy-efficiency standards, availability of NEVs from OEMs, national policies and in-country infrastructure to support plug-in EVs.

Identified risks under social were categorised within:

Human capital: Scarcity of qualified and skilled talent, emigration of skilled employees from South Africa, failure to help employees adapt to digitalisation and technology advancement, stress and mental health impacting workforce productivity.
Socio-economic development: Higher food and energy prices worldwide, increased levels of poverty and high youth unemployment leading to social unrest, poor public infrastructure and inconsistent service delivery in South Africa.
Health and safety: Failure to meet OHS and product safety standards and regulations, reputation undermined, potential penalties and fines or loss of commercial licences.
Supply chain: Failure to comply with OEM agreements or the loss of a key supplier, negative environmental or social impacts arising from within the supply chain, war-torn areas adversely impacting shipping routes
Transformation in South Africa: Failure to meet the sub-minimum requirements of the B-BBEE scorecard pillars, and sectoral equity targets, reputational, competitiveness and sustainability impact, increasing emphasis on the ownership component.

Specific factors on Motus’ governance risk radar encompassed regulatory compliance and information security, specifically cybercrime and protection of personal data.