The oil firm claims it is not true that a hefty R3bn was put into the pockets of executives.

Alec Hogg's article "Mistakes exposed as tide turns" of 9 March 2010 contains some worrying errors that has resulted in a misrepresentation of the facts.

In the article, Mr. Hogg refers to "...putting a hefty R3bn into the pockets of executives..." This is not true.

The R3bn share based payment to which Mr. Hogg refers does not refer to payments made to executives, nor payments to anyone.  It is essentially a non-cash cost charge that reflects the difference between the fair value of a share and what was paid for that share. The R3bn amount relates primarily to the Sasol (JSE:SOL) Inzalo BEE share transaction. The facts relating to this non-cash charge were very apparent in all relevant communication from Sasol at the time, including our annual reports and the extensive media coverage secured over the past two years, since the deal's inception. Sasol Inzalo remains the largest BEE transaction to date in this country and accounted for R2 953m of the R3bn reported. The difference is made up of share options (R51 million) and share appreciation rights (R40m) which are reported in detail in the Sasol financial reports. The vast majority of the R3bn to which Mr. Hogg refers was therefore the non-cash cost of the transaction relating to black South Africans, including staff, across the country and not Sasol executives as claimed.

It is also worth nothing that the bulk of the share based payment figure of R524m, reflected in the current period, has reference to a Sasol Inzalo share based payment of R400m.

In the article, Mr. Hogg also makes reference to Sasol's share repurchase approach. During the previous share repurchase schemes, initiated in 2000 and running to 2008, Sasol repurchased over 100 million shares at an average of R156.65 per share. In reviewing the full repurchase approach across the eight year period it is clear this was a beneficial investment.

The impact of the global economic crisis drove share prices down across the world and in Sasol's case, may have resulted in that only the final tranche of shares, not delivering value at the current share price. Had a crystal ball revealed the impending crisis, many companies would have altered their share repurchase approach.  Share repurchase schemes are but one of the ways to return cash to shareholders. The article also claims that in 2008 Sasol raised R12.5bn in debt to be spent on share purchases. Again, this is not correct. Sasol raised R5.7bn, of which R2.2bn related to the preference shares for the Sasol Inzalo share transaction and repaid some debt.

It is curious that the article relates to aspects of our business that have been covered in detail, in previous reporting periods but nonetheless, Sasol welcomes robust debate and criticism. Differences in opinion remain a central feature of the markets but when criticism is levelled, it should be founded on facts and in this instance, the analysis appears to be somewhat superficial.

Regards,

Jacqui O'Sullivan

Sasol Group communication manager

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