During the year, group companies made donations of
US$12.9 million to charitable organisations.
Whilst it remains the group’s policy that political donations
are only made by exception and in accordance with local laws,
after careful consideration, the following political donations were
sanctioned during the year.
The group provided funding to those political parties in
South Africa’s parliamentary election in 2004 that, in addition
to a commitment to democracy, had demonstrated voter
support by receiving at least 1% of the total votes in the 1999
parliamentary election. It is your board’s belief that a strong
democracy requires healthy political parties, particularly in a
newly established democratic system like South Africa and,
accordingly, an amount of R5 million (US$0.7 million) has been
distributed across the six largest parties, pro-rata to their level
of support in the 1999 parliamentary election.
During the year under review, Miller Brewing Company made
contributions to the campaigns and office running costs of
individual elected officials who indicated their support for the beer
industry in states that permit such donations. Political donations
made by businesses in the United States of America (US) are
an expected part of the socio-political environment. The majority
of donations made by the group’s US operations were for
US$1,000 or less, amounting in aggregate to US$0.7 million.
The group’s operations in Central America made donations
of US$0.4 million in the context of municipal and presidential
elections that were held in El Salvador in the final quarter of the
financial year ended 31 March 2004.
The board has reaffirmed the group’s policy not to make
donations to political parties in the European Union.
back to top