C O N S T I T U T I O N
As approved by the Annual General Meeting of the SOUTH
AFRICAN ORIENTEERING FEDERATION on 28 September 1992, with amendments approved
at the Annual General Meetings on: October 7 1995 - clause 18 expanded; September 28 1996 (Pretoria) – structure of executive
expanded; all vice chairs to report; chairman re-titled President, etc.; September 26 1998 (Cathedral Peak) – clauses 6,10,12 and 13
modified; clause 26 added; September 25 1999 (Elgin Country Club) - clauses 1, 6, 12,
14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24 modified; September 23 2000 (Mohales Gate) – clause 17 modified; September 23 2001 (Klein Simonsvlei) - clauses 12, 17 and 20
modified; September 21 2002 (Klipriviersberg) – clauses 3(h), 4(a),
4(b), 14(o), 17(a)(i), 20(c), 20(d) and 24(g) amended or added. I N D E X
1
DEFINITIONS In this constitution, except where
incompatible with the context, the following terms shall have the meaning
indicated :
2 Name and Legal Personality (a)
The name of the Federation shall be the South African
Orienteering Federation. (b)
The Federation shall have legal personality and shall : (i)
have an independent existence; (ii)
be entitled to own property; (iii)
be entitled to enter into legal transactions and institute
actions at law. (c)
The Federation shall not distribute its annual profits among
its members. 3 Aims and Objectives
The
aims and objectives of the Federation are: (a)
to promote the interests of orienteering and its orienteers,
and to uphold the rules relative to amateur status and the eligibility of
orienteers to compete under the rules of the SAOF and IOF; (b) to administer orienteering falling under
the jurisdiction of the Federation; (c) to enquire into such irregularities as
may have occurred during orienteering competitions or in the course of the
administration of orienteering and have been submitted to the Federation or
have come to its notice; (d) to hear appeals against the decisions of
Members, and to pronounce upon such appeals; (e) to commission and supervise annual
National and Provincial Championships and IOF sanctioned events; (f) to attend to the selection of
orienteers who are to represent the Federation; (g) to provide for official records of
performance; (h) to maintain the principles of freedom of
participation on an equal basis and of non-discrimination, in respect of race,
sex, religion, political views and HIV status; (i) as a sport recognised by the
International Olympic Committee and the National Olympic Committee of South
Africa, to respect the Olympic Charter. 4 Ways and Means of
Achieving Aims and Objectives
The
aims and objectives of the Federation may be achieved by: (a)
affiliation with the International Orienteering Federation,
the world body governing the sport of orienteering, and as such be the single
controlling body for orienteering in South Africa; (b)
affiliation with sports bodies, i.e. the South African
Sports Commission, the National Olympic Committee of South Africa, the South
African Master Sports Association; (c)
the acquisition in a legal manner of such movable or
immovable property as may be required to achieve the aims and objectives of the
Federation; (d)
entering upon such negotiations and concluding such
contracts and agreements as may be lawfully undertaken by the incorporated body
and are not incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Federation; (e)
raising funds for any purpose which may be deemed necessary. 5 ORGANISATION OF THE
FEDERATION
(a)
The principal constituent bodies of the Federation are : (i)
the General Meeting; (ii)
the Management Committee (b)
Other Committees may be constituted by the principal
constituent bodies in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution as the
need arises. (c) The official language of the Federation
shall be English. (d)
The official publication of the Federation shall be “Under
Control”. 6 GENERAL MEETINGS
(a)
The Annual General Meeting constitutes the supreme authority
of the Federation. The Annual General
Meeting shall be held once every year on a date to be fixed by the Management
Committee, but not later than 4 months from the end of the preceding
orienteering year. The minutes of all meetings of the Management Committee
shall be circulated to the clubs. (b)
Special General Meetings shall be called by the Management
Committee when it so decides, or upon receipt of written requests signed on
behalf of at least two Members. 7 NOTICE OF GENERAL
MEETINGS
(a)
members, Management Committee members and Honorary Members
shall receive 60 days written notice of the date, time and venue of the Annual
General Meeting; (b)
All notices of motions to be treated at the Annual General
Meetings are to reach the Vice-President (Administration) by not later than 30
days before such meeting; (c)
The Vice-President (Administration) shall notify all Members
of the agenda for the Annual General Meeting in writing, to reach the Members
by not later than 14 days before such meeting. 8 REPRESENTATION AT GENERAL MEETINGS
(a)
Every Member shall be entitled to be represented by two
delegates, who shall be members of the Member of the Federation, at General
Meetings; (b)
The President and Vice-Presidents shall not be entitled to
represent a Member; (c)
Delegates of Members shall be entitled to participate in the
business of the Federation. 9 QUORUM
AT GENERAL MEETINGS
A
minimum of half the voting strength plus one shall constitute a quorum at any
General Meeting. 10 PROCEDURE AT GENERAL MEETINGS
(a)
At General Meetings the President shall preside, or in his
absence, the Vice-President. (b)
The agenda of the Annual General Meeting shall be disposed
of in the following order : (i) scrutiny of delegates credentials; (ii) the reading of the notice of the
meeting; (iii)
the recording of attendance and apologies; (iv)
the reading and adoption of the minutes of the previous
Annual General Meeting and of Special General Meetings; (v)
submission, discussion and adoption of the annual reports of
the President, Vice-President (Technical), Vice-President (Marketing) and
Vice-President (Development) ; (vi)
submission, discussion and adoption of an audited set of
financial statements of the past financial year ; (vii)
the appointment of an auditor for the next financial year ; (viii)
dealing with any amendments to the Constitution ; (ix)
dealing with any matters proposed by Members, of which due
notice has been given; (x)
election of office bearers in terms of Clause 12; (xi)
election of Honorary Members in terms of Clause 18; (xii)
any other business. (c)
The agenda of a Special General Meeting shall be disposed of
in the order specified below: (i)
scrutiny of delegates credentials; (ii)
recording of attendance and apologies; (iii)
the reading of the notice of the meeting; (iv)
dealing with any matters proposed by Members, of which due
notice has been given. (d)
No motion or amendment on the agenda of General Meetings may
be withdrawn without the approval of the Meeting. If the original proposer of a motion is absent at the meeting,
any other representative shall be competent to introduce the motion, in which
case such representative shall, for all practical purposes, be vested with the
rights and privileges of the original proposer. 11 VOTING PROCEDURE AT GENERAL MEETINGS
(a)
In all matters calling for a resolution, voting shall be by
show of hands, or by secret ballot if two delegates so demand before voting is
proceeded to, or if the President so decides; (b)
The President, and Vice-Presidents and each Member’s
representative shall have one vote each, but if a Member is represented by a
single delegate, such delegate shall be entitled to two votes provided that his
credentials give notice in advance of his intentions. The President shall, in addition to his ordinary vote, have the
casting vote; (c)
When due to changes to the Constitution, the composition of
any committee is changed and it affects the nominations, the following ruling
shall apply: (i)
only officials for the posts, which have not changed, will
be elected at the Annual General Meeting providing their nominations were
received as laid down in the Constitution; (ii)
the elected officials must then, after testing the feeling
of delegates at the Annual General Meeting co-opt members to fill temporarily
the newly created posts, as no legal nomination could have been made; (d)
In matters calling for a resolution, of which due notice has
been given, Members shall be entitled to submit proxy votes, providing their
proxy votes are received by the Vice-President (Administration) by not later
than 48 hours before a General Meeting. 12 THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
(a)
The direction of the Federation’s affairs shall be vested in
the Management Committee ; (b)
The Management Committee shall comprise a President and four
Vice-Presidents, namely Technical,
Marketing, Development and Administration who shall be elected by the delegates
at the Annual General Meeting and whose nominations shall be supported by their
respective Members; (c)
Nominations for the offices of President, Vice-President
(Administration), Vice-President (Development), Vice-President (Marketing) and
Vice-President (Technical) have to be submitted to the Vice-President
(Administration) in writing and at least 30 days before the Annual General
Meeting. These nominations shall appear
unchanged on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting. Should insufficient nominations be received
by the due date, nominations from the floor will be allowed at the Annual
General Meeting; (d)
Voting for office-bearers shall be by secret ballot. (e)
The SAOF Management Committee shall have the power to co-opt
additional people on to the Management Committee. Such co-opted positions may include, but are not limited to:
Women's representative, Mountain Bike Representative, Trail O/Disabled
representative, Development representative. Such co-opted people shall not have
voting powers on the Management Committee 13 MEETINGS OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
(a)
The Management Committee shall meet as often as it deems
necessary. (b)
Members of the Management Committee shall be notified in
writing of meetings, receive the agenda at least seven days in advance. (c) A meeting of the Management Committee
may be called either on the initiative of the President, or at the written
request of at least two members of the Management Committee. (d) At any meeting of the Management
Committee three members of the said committee shall constitute a quorum. (e) All members of the Management Committee
present will have one vote each while the President has the casting vote. (f) Minutes of all meetings of the
Management Committee shall be sent to all Members. 14 POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE MANAGEMENT
COMMITTEE
In
addition to the powers and duties granted to the Management Committee in terms
of any section of the Constitution, the following further powers shall vest in
it: (a)
When vacancies occur in the offices of President,
Vice-President (Administration), Vice-President (Development), Vice-President
(Technical) or Vice-President (Marketing), to fill such vacancies for the
remaining period until the next Annual General Meeting. (b)
To receive and approve applications from Members as to the
venues and dates of National and Provincial Championships. (c)
To decide where and when any other competitions supervised
by the Federation shall be held. (d)
To make recommendations to the Annual General Meeting in
connection with international competitions. (e)
To nominate delegates to any association to which the
Federation is affiliated. (f)
To inspect the constitutions of new applicant Members. (g)
To appoint, as deemed necessary from time to time, any
committee, to assist the Management Committee to carry out its duties. The President or, in his absence, the
Vice-President, shall be ex-officio members of any such Committee. (h)
To convene an Annual General Meeting of the Federation every
year. (i)
To suspend temporarily or permanently any member who has
been found guilty of misbehaviour or dishonourable practices in orienteering. (j) |
