National Guidelines towards AGMs, Regional Congresses, Provincial General Congresses and National Congress (2019)

National Guidelines towards AGMs, Regional Congresses, Provincial General Congresses and National Congress (2019)

These are guidelines towards SASCO AGMs, BGMs, Regional Congresses, Provincial Congresses and National Congress.

Preliminary Note

In  order  to  qualify  for    delegation  status  in  a  Regional  Congress, Provincial General Council, Provincial Congress and National Congress, a   branch   must   affiliate   to   the   Head   Office   and   it   must   send membership database to the head office, which has been confirmed by a branch activity (Political school, Community Outreach, induction, AGM, BGM, etc). This must have been done on or before 30 June 2019 as it relates to Regional Congresses or RGCs that are due to seat on the 19 of July; on or  before  30 June  2019  for  PGCs  that  should  seat  at  the  end  of  July 2019; on or before 13 September 2019 for National Congress that should seat on the 07 – 11 December 2019.

1. The Annual General Meetings (AGMs)

These should sit on the basis of all the provisions outlined in Section

26  of  the  Constitution  but  should  further  specifically  sit  under  the following conditions:

1.1.   A  branch  should  have  conducted  its  membership  induction  or hosted  a  political  school, Community Outreach  or  BGM;  a  report  must  be  sent  to the office of Provincial Secretary.

1.2.   AGMs/BGMs  which  are  to  receive  all  three  BEC  reports  (Political, Organizational and Financial), shall sit from 24 May – 19 July 2019 (for RGC/RC) Branches that are going to sit their AGMs/BGMs before the 24 of May 2019    should    be    branches    with    a    confirmed    and    verified membership,   which   is   not   going   to   increase,   and   that   have conducted  their  branch  induction  and  political  school/lecture  or BGM.

1.3.   These meetings will also be responsible for nominating delegation to Regional Congresses, Provincial Congresses and National Congress. The cut of dates for the seating of the meetings will be strictly observed.

1.4.   The first 50 members will mean that a branch gets to nominate two delegates and it will accumulate one delegate for each additional 50 members.  There should be a strict constitutional adherence on gender.

1.5.   In addition to these delegates, branches must nominate three reserve delegates.  It should be noted that  this  applies  even if  the branch has a large number of delegates. Names of delegates should be  sent  to  the office of the SG  within  24  hours  after  the  meeting  has concluded.

1.6.   All BECs, and not branch secretary or chair alone, are to determine the actual dates suitable for AGMs  in line with the timeframes  set out above and expiry of their term of office and should accordingly inform the PEC in advance (at least two days before the seating).

1.7.   All these AGMs are to be presided over by the PEC, unless there has been a process of delegation to the REC/RTT. If 3 hours pass without the PEC and or REC/RTT arriving at the AGM, the BEC through the branch chair should preside over the AGM, provided that he/she is not available for elections.

1.8.   Complaints about the AGMs should be sent within 24 hours from the conclusion of the meeting and these will be entertained by the PECs and NWC will only entertain these after they have been dealt with in this process. The /PEC should deal with complaints and respond to the complainant within 72 hours.

1.9.    AGMs/BGMs for the nomination of Branch delegates to the Provincial Congresses and National Congress will sit from 23^rd September – 25^th   October 2019. Reconvening branches after the appeals process will be convened from the 1^st – 8^th November 2019. All

1.10. Where context dictates, AGM  should  be  read  interchangeably  with BGM.

2. The Regional Congresses and RGCs

It  is  firstly  important  to  note  that  this  relates  to  the  Regional Congresses  that  are  due.  All regions  with  RTTs  must  convene regional congresses. Where this is not the case, the regions must sit compulsory Regional General Councils. These will be sitting on the basis  of  the  necessary  provisions  outlined  in  Section  25  of  the Constitution and should further sit under the following conditions:

2.1.   Regional  Congresses  and  RGCs,  which  are  to  receive  all  the  three reports  (Political,  Organisational  and  Financial),  shall  sit  from

18  –  31  of  July    for  not  less  than  two  days.  One day  regional congresses won’t be allowed.

2.2.   These   will   be   presided   over   by   the   PEC,   the   REC   should communicate  the  date  and  venue  of  such  Regional  Congresses  3 days in advance to the office of the Provincial Secretary and the Secretary General.

2.3.   The REC/PEC is to communicate further information for these prior or during AGMs and these will include issues such as specific policy and non-policy discussions, congress venue and other details.

3. The Provincial General Councils

The PGCs are a midterm review by branches. They review the work of  the  PECs  and  serve  as  a  midterm  accounting  structure  of  the PECs.  All provinces  are expected  to  convene  their PGCs no later than the 31^st of July 2019.

The delegates to  PGC  will  be  Branch delegates,  the RECs and PEC members. The   Provincial   General   Councils   shall   sit   under   the   provisions provided  for  in  Section  20  of  the  constitution  which  provides  as follows:

3.1.   Provincial General Councils which  are  to  receive  all  three  reports (Political,    Organisational    and    Financial),    and    Discussion Documents shall sit by the end of July 2019.

3.2.   These  will  be  presided  over  by  the  NEC  and  the  PEC  should communicate  the  date  and  venue  of  such  PGCs  four  days  in advance to the office of the Secretary General.

3.3.   The PEC should communicate further guidelines  for  these  prior  or during the AGMs and these will include issues such as specific policy and non-policy discussions, congress venue and other details.

3.4.   The PGCs are encouraged to be political spaces  of robust debates and policy formulation with minimal or no petty squabbles.

3.5.   Where a Province convenes a Provincial Congress instead, relevant provisions of the  constitution  shall  apply  in  conjunction  with  the guidelines stipulated in this paragraph for PGCs.

3.6 Provincial Congresses are to seat from 22 November – 06 December 2019 with the exception of Limpopo and KZN).

4. National Congress

The   NC,   which   is   the   highest   decision   making   organ   of   the organisation is sitting under all the provisions outlined in Section 10 of the Constitution.  The Venue of  the  National  Congress  will  be discussed by the NWC and be circulated to Provinces in due time.

4.1.   The NC will take place from the 7^th – 11^th of December 2019.

4.2.   Problems  in  relation  to  exam  and  technicalities  surrounding  the meetings  should  be  raised  with  the  SGO  at  the  earliest  possible time.

4.3.   The NEC will release the first draft discussion documents by the 15th of October 2019.

5. Membership statistics and appeals process

5.1    Membership statistics will be released on monthly bases

5.2    Cut of date of membership is the 13^th of September 2019.

5.3       The   first   membership   statistics   will   be   released   on   the   17th September 2019, after which an appeal process will follow from the 18th  – 20th  of September 2019. The Final Membership statistics will then be  released  on  the  20^th of  September 2019.  (It should   be   noted   that   appealing   of   membership   should   be accompanied with receipts or any kind of proof of payment and must be sent to the office of the Secretary General).

5.4.   Deployees in AGMs/BGMs must verify membership by form of positive identification as accepted normal functioning of the organization, e.g. student card, ID, passport.

5.5.  Similar ways   must   be   adopted   by   Regional   Congresses   and Provincial General Councils.

5.6. All branch secretaries must send membership databases to the office of the Provincial Secretary and Secretary General for record keeping. In case of disputes on the database, the BGM/AGM register will be applied in dispute resolution.

6. 6. Membership account:

Branch Secretaries or any member shall deposit membership to the

SASCO membership account and keep the receipt as proof.

Account Holder:     SASCO
Account number:   621 084 54117
Bank:                      FNB Account type:        Cheque
Branch:                  President  Street
Branch Code:         250 705
Reference:             Name of SASCO Branch e.g. (Claude Qavane Branch)

7. Miscellaneous

These  are  the  final  guidelines  adopted  by  the  National  Executive Committee.

All  provinces  and  branches  are  duty  bound  to  adhere  to  these guidelines.

These guidelines belong to all SASCO branches and must be sent to all   branches.   Failure   by   the   PEC   to   send   these   guidelines   to branches or amending these will result in a serious offence namely; sabotage of the work of the organization and may be processed by the National Disciplinary Committee.

—-signed—-

Moipone Khero Mhlongo-  Secretary General