| THE ECONOMIC SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA
CONSTITUTION AND RULES
(As approved at the Annual General Meeting
of the Society on 19 September 2000)
NAME
1. The Society shall be named:
" The Economic Society of South Africa", hereafter referred to as the
Society.
OBJECTS
2. The objectives of the
Society are to promote the discussion of and research into economic matters, in particular
those affecting South Africa, and, to this end, to enlist the co-operation of all persons,
of whatever school of economic thought, capable of enlightening them.
METHOD
3. The Society shall provide
for these objectives by:
a. arranging for the writing,
reading and discussion for papers on economic questions;
b. the publication of a
Journal;
c. any other means which may
further the above objectives.
MEMBERS
4. (a) Any person
interested in the objectives of the Society may, at the discretion of the Council, be
enrolled as a member upon application to the Secretary of the Council.
Candidates for membership must sign
an application form and, if enrolled, shall be deemed to be bound by the Constitution and
Rules of the Society.
It shall be competent for members,
subject to approval of the Council, to become life members of the Society upon payment of
an amount equal to fifteen times the annual dues or such other sum as may be determined by
the Annual General Meeting from time to time.
The Council shall have power to
admit as honorary members such persons as it deems desirable in the interests of the
Society, and honorary members shall be absolved from paying membership dues while
retaining all the privileges of ordinary membership.
Members whose annual dues are not
in arrear and honorary members shall be entitled to receive the Journal of the Society and
to attend all meetings of the Society and any of its Branches.
Members of at least twenty years'
standing who have reached pensionable age may, at the discretion of the Council, be
admitted as retired members, to be absolved from paying membership dues while retaining
all the privileges of ordinary membership.
(i) The annual dues payable by
members shall be determined by the Annual General Meeting from time to time upon the
recommendation of the Council.
(ii) Annual dues shall be payable to the Treasurer of the Society within one month
of the date of enrolment and thereafter one month of the beginning of the financial year.
i. Written notice shall be sent to members whose dues are in arrear. If
membership dues are in arrear for more than two years, the Council may remove the names of
such members from the membership roll. The Treasurer shall notify such members, as
well as Secretaries of Branches, of the decision of the Council.
ii. New members enrolled during any particular financial year shall be entitled to receive
all the Journals issued during the year, provided such supplies are available.
Any member wishing to resign from
the Society shall give written notice to the Secretary of the Council, but such member
shall be liable for the full annual dues for the financial year during which the member
resigns.
SUBSCRIBERS
5. (a) Any person, firm,
company or institution interested in the objectives of the Society may, upon application
to the Secretary of the Journal, become a subscriber to the Journal of the Society.
The subscription for the Journal
shall be determined by the Council from time to time, payable to the Secretary of the
Journal within one month after the acceptance of the application and thereafter within one
month of the beginning of the financial year of the Society.
Written notice shall be sent to any
subscriber whose subscription is not paid within one month of the due date, and if the
subscription is not paid before the expiration of one month from the date of such written
notice, Council may remove such subscriber from the list of subscribers.
New subscribers enlisted during any
particular financial year shall be entitled to receive all the Journals issued during the
year, provided supplies are available.
BRANCHES
6. (a) Subject to approval of
the Council, branches of the Society may be established at any place.
A branch will be deemed to have
been dissolved if it fails to produce financial statements and an Annual General Meeting,
provided that the Council may condone the failure to either of the aforementioned on good
cause shown.
The financial year of every branch
shall be the same as that of the Society.
The affairs of a branch shall be
managed by a committee, the members of which shall be elected annually at a general
meeting of the branch.
The annual general meeting of a
branch shall be held as soon as possible after the close of the financial year at a date
to be determined by the branch committee.
Every branch shall receive from the
Secretary a register of its members giving their full names and addresses, showing the
date of the inception and of the termination of their membership of the branch, and
reflecting such other details as may be found convenient. This list shall be updated
quarterly.
As soon as may be after the close
of the financial year, but not later than 31 March, branches hall prepare an annual
account of receipts and payments. This account shall be examined by an auditor,
appointed at the annual general meeting of the branch.
Upon completion of the audit of the
account of any branch, a copy thereof shall be forwarded to the Treasurer of the Council
not later than 31 May.
The branch representatives on the
Council shall be elected by members of the branch concerned in general meeting or, if so
authorised by the members in general meeting, by the branch committee. Notification
of such election shall be forwarded to the Secretary of the Council not later than 15
August of each year.
Subject to approval of the Council,
a branch shall have the right to frame by-laws, not inconsistent with the Constitution and
Rules of the Society, for the conduct of its affairs.
To supplement its share of
membership dues made available by the Council in terms of Rule 10 (e), a branch shall have
the right to raise such further sums from its members, other than life span members of the
Society, as may be necessary for the furtherance of the activities of the branch.
A branch shall have the power to
accumulate funds. Any monies not required by the branch for carrying out activities
on its own account may be remitted to the Council for allocation to the general fund or
any special funds of the Society.
COUNCIL
7. (a) The affairs of the
Society shall be managed by a Council consisting of:
the President;
two Vice-Presidents
two members elected by every
branch;
six members elected by the Annual
General Meeting of the Society;
the Managing Editor of the Journal
if not already a member under (i), (ii) (iii) or (iv); and
a maximum of three additional
members co-opted by the Council.
The term of office of the Council
shall expire at the conclusion of each Annual General Meeting.
Biennially, a nominations
committee, appointed by the Council, shall present the outgoing Council with a
shortlist of candidates and their curricula vitae not less than 21 days before its first
meeting on the occasion of an Annual General Meeting of the Society. The outgoing
Council shall first elect a President and then Vice-Presidents from this. Further,
the Secretary and the Treasurer, who need not be members of the shortlist, will be
appointed by Council.
Each branch representative on the
Council shall, with the approval of the committee of such a branch, have the power to
nominate a member of the Society to act as proxy at meetings of the Council.
The Council may delegate any of its
functions to one or more committees, elected from its own members or otherwise.
The quorum for the meeting of the
Council, unless otherwise determined by the Council, shall be seven.
There shall be an Executive
Committee, responsible for the daily management of the Society and the execution of any
matter referred to it by the Council. The Executive Committee shall consist of the
President, the Vice-Presidents, the Managing Editor of the Journal, the Secretary, the
Treasurer and any other members appointed by the Council from time to time.
THE JOURNAL
8. (a) The official publication
of the Society shall be called " The South African Journal of Economics".
hereinafter referred to as the Journal, and shall be published quarterly or for such other
periods as the Council may decide.
The Journal shall be edited by at
least six editors appointed by the Council, one of whom shall be the Managing Editor.
The Managing Editor, who shall be
appointed for four years, renewable once only, will have the following duties:
ensuring the regular publication of
the Journal;
ensuring that the Journal is of an
acceptable standard;
management of the staff and
financial matters of the Journal;
marketing the Journal with a view
to promoting the membership of the Society and increasing the subscriptions to the
Journal.
Editors shall serve for
renewable periods of four years.
The services of the Managing Editor
of an editor shall not be terminated without due cause and fair procedures, unless
otherwise provided by this constitution.
A honorarium shall be payable to
the Managing Editor, as determined by the Council.
GENERAL MEETING
9 (a) An Annual General Meeting
shall be held as soon as possible after the close of the Society's financial year, at a
date and place to be determined by the Council.
Special General Meetings of the
Society may be held at such times and places as the Council may decide.
The Council may lay down rules for
the voting at General Meetings, and may from time to time vary such rules.
Not less than 21 days notice shall
be given of all Annual or Special General Meetings of the Society, and the notices
convening such meetings will indicate the nature of the business to be transacted at the
meeting.
FINANCE
10 (a) The Treasurer shall
receive all monies due to the Society and shall make such payments on behalf of the
Society as the Council may from time to time direct. The Treasurer shall invest the
monies of the Society as the Council may direct and she/she shall keep proper accounts of
all receipts and payments and be responsible for the safe-keeping of the securities of the
Society.
The financial year of the Society
shall end on 31 December.
All investments of the funds
controlled by the Society shall be made at the discretion of the Council and all
securities shall be registered in the name of the Society.
(i) Any contract, power of attorney
or other deed or document to be signed on behalf of the Society, except withdrawals from
or cheques drawn upon any savings or bank accounts of the Society, shall be signed on
behalf of the Society by
the President or one of the
Vice-Presidents and by the Treasurer or the Secretary of the Managing Editor of the
Journal, or
by any two persons designated by
resolution of the Council.
Withdrawals from or cheques drawn
upon any of the accounts kept by the Society with savings institutions and banks shall be
signed by the Treasurer or in his absence by the person acting on his behalf, and shall be
countersigned by the Secretary or by a member of the Council.
The proceeds of cheques and other
remittances in favour of the Society shall be deposited to the credit of the Society, and
need only to be endorsed by the Treasurer or in his absence by the person acting on his
behalf.
Membership dues shall vest in the
Council, but the Council shall make available for the purposes of each branch a proportion
of the dues received by the Treasurer of the Council from members of that branch during
each financial year.
All Dues payable by members shall
be collected by the Treasurer of the Council.
All compositions for life
membership of the Society shall vest in the Council in full and if received by a branch
shall be remitted immediately.
CAPITAL ENDOWMENT AND OTHER
FUNDS
11 (a) The Council may
institute a Capital Endowment Fund and such other funds as it deems desirable for the
achievement of the objectives of the Society and subject to such rules and conditions as
it may determine.
(b) (i) The
Capital Endowment Fund may be vested in two trustees to be appointed by the Council.
i. There shall be paid into the
Capital Endowment Fund:
all life membership dues;
a percentage, as determined by the
Council, of the annual dues of members who are not members of a branch;
all donation of branches and others
towards the Fund;
any other allocations of the
Council.
(c)
The interest obtained on the investment of the Fund shall be paid to the general
revenue of the Society, but the Capital shall not be expended as long as the Society is in
existence, except by the recommendation of the Council confirmed by resolution of a
General Meeting of the Society.
ANNUAL REPORTS AND ACCOUNTS
12. At the Annual General
Meeting the Council shall present a report, with audited statement of accounts and balance
sheet, copies of which shall have been forwarded to each member not less than seven days
prior to the date of any such meeting.
AUDITOR
13. Once a year the accounts of
the Society shall be examined by an auditor, to be appointed by members in Annual General
Meeting, who shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting. In the event
of a casual vacancy during the year, the Council shall make an appointment to fill it.
CENTRAL OFFICE
14. The Central Office of the
Society shall be at such a place as the Council may from time to time determine.
AMENDMENT OF CONSTITUTION
15. The Constitution of the
Society may be amended in General Meeting of the Society upon the recommendation of the
Council and after consultation with the various branch committees. Full particulars
of any proposed amendments shall be given in the notice convening the General Meeting at
which such proposed amendments are to be considered.
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