Chapter Three - Membership and Branches

3.1    MEMBERSHIP

3.1.1     Every person wishing to become a member of the Democratic Alliance must:

3.1.1.1    be 16 years of age or older, provided that persons younger than 16 may be enrolled as Junior Members if the Constitution of the Democratic Alliance Youth provides for this category of member;

3.1.1.2    be a citizen or a permanent resident of South Africa;

3.1.1.3    subscribe to the Vision, the Principles, the Programme of Action and the Mission Statement of the Party;

3.1.1.4    agree to abide by the constitution of the Party;

3.1.1.5    apply in writing to become a member of the Party, by signing the prescribed membership application form;

3.1.1.6    personally pay the annual membership subscription and comply with any other conditions set by the Federal Executive. What constitutes personal payment will be regulated by the Federal Executive from time to time.

3.1.2    Membership takes effect when a person complies with the requirements for membership as set out in clause 3.1.1.

3.1.3    A person may enrol as a member at any time during the year subject thereto that

3.1.3.1    a member who enrolled on or before 30 September of any year, remains a member until 31 May of the next year; and

3.1.3.2    a member who enrolled on or after 1 October of any year will be regarded as having enrolled in the next year and he or she remains a member through that next year and until 31 May of the year thereafter.

3.1.4    Any member who fails to renew his or her membership on or before the due date resumes membership only from the date upon which he or she pays the annual membership subscription and is subject to the 30 day requirement referred to in clause 2.3.3.

3.1.5    A donor to the Party whose donation in that year exceeds the annual membership subscription, and a public representative whose compulsory contribution to the Party in that year exceeds the annual membership subscription, need not pay the annual subscription.

3.1.6    The Party may provide for life membership of the Party as an honour given at the discretion of the Federal Council.

3.2    REFUSAL OF MEMBERSHIP

3.2.1    The Executive of a Constituency or a Regional or Provincial Executive may refuse to accept the membership of any person other than a public representative of the Party who joined the Party in accordance with 3.1.1 within 15 days of the payment of the membership subscription by such a person, in the case of a constituency refusal, 30 days in the case of a regional refusal and 60 days in the case of a Provincial Executive refusal.

3.2.2    A person whose membership was refused in terms of 3.2.1, may appeal that decision to the Provincial Executive, or, if the decision was taken by the Provincial Executive, to the Federal Executive. The decision of the Provincial or Federal Executive, as the case may be, is final.

3.2.3    Public representatives from other parties may only be accepted as members of the Party with the prior approval of the Federal Executive or a person designated by the Federal Executive, after consultation with the Provincial or Regional Executive concerned:     provided that the Branch Executive must also be consulted in respect of a local government representative.

3.3    MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS

3.3.1    The Federal Council determines from time to time the minimum membership subscription of the Party and the date for payment. That minimum will be uniform for all members.

3.3.2    A Provincial Council or Provincial Executive may request an additional voluntary surcharge from members living in that province.

3.3.3     A branch may request additional voluntary annual subscriptions over and above the membership subscription prescribed by the Federal Council or Provincial Council or Provincial Executive.

3.3.4    A member may pay the membership fee for his or her spouse(s), partner, child, parent or dependent(s) living at the same address. Sponsored membership in any form or for any person or class of persons other than in terms of this clause or of clause 3.1.1.6 is not allowed.

3.4    DUAL MEMBERSHIP

A member or category of members of the Party may also be a member or members of another party or parties approved by the Federal Council for the period and on conditions determined by the Federal Council.

3.5    CESSATION OF MEMBERSHIP

3.5.1     A member ceases to be a member of the Party when he or she:

3.5.1.1    submits his or her written resignation from the Party;

3.5.1.2    becomes or remains a member of another party other than one approved under this constitution;

3.5.1.3    declares his or her resignation or intention to resign from the Party or intention to join another party;

3.5.1.4    fails to renew his or her membership on or before the date stipulated in clause 3.1.3;

3.5.1.5    canvasses other Party members to resign from the Party;

3.5.1.6    canvasses other Party members to join or support another Party;

3.5.1.7    stands or accepts nomination against an official candidate of the Party in any public election;

3.5.1.8    is found guilty of any offence listed in Schedule 6 or 7 of the Criminal Procedure Act;

3.5.1.9    is in default with the payment of any compulsory public representative contribution for a period of 2 (two) months after having been notified in writing that he or she is in arrears and fails to make satisfactory arrangements or fails to comply with such arrangements for payment of the arrears.

3.5.2    A member, who ceases to be a member of the Party, loses all privileges of Party membership and, if that member is a public representative, he or she also loses the office which he or she occupies by virtue of his or her membership, with immediate effect.

3.5.3    A statement under oath or affirmation by the member’s Branch, Regional or Provincial Chairperson supported by at least one further statement by a member of the relevant executive that such member’s membership has ceased in terms of clause 3.5.1, shall be sufficient grounds for the Provincial Executive to take the steps envisaged in clause 3.7.2

3.6    TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF MEMBERSHIP

3.6.1    Apart from clause 3.5, the membership of any member, including that of a public representative may only be terminated by a provincial executive and only after an enquiry in terms of Chapter 9.

3.6.2    The Party membership of a public representative who is removed from office in terms of clause 2.5.4 is not affected by that removal.

3.6.3    A Provincial Executive or the Federal Executive may suspend a Party member from any or all of the activities of the Party, pending the institution of a disciplinary enquiry in terms of Chapter 9: provided that a caucus may suspend a caucus member from all or any caucus activities, pending such an enquiry.

3.7    ONLY MEMBERS CAN SERVE

3.7.1    Only Party members can serve on the representative and other structures of the Party and be public representatives of the Party.

3.7.2    If the membership of a public representative is terminated in terms of 3.6.1 or if a public representative ceases to be a member of the Party by virtue of 3.5.1, the relevant Provincial Executive or Regional Executive, as the case may be, must notify the relevant authorities of the vacancy which has arisen.

3.8    BRANCHES

3.8.1    The basic organisational units of the Party are the branches. The Party will strive to establish and maintain a branch or branches for every local government ward in South Africa.

3.8.2     Branches are established to manage and direct the affairs of the Party, to communicate the principles and policy of the Party to the public, to mobilize the public in support of the programme of action of the Party, to participate in the process of democratic selection of candidates for the Party and to serve as the vehicle for the articulation of the interests of members of the Party and voters in their areas of jurisdiction.

3.9    MEMBERSHIP OF BRANCHES

3.9.1    Members of the Party belong to branches and exercise their voting rights as members in branches, or through representatives elected by branches.

3.9.2    Members belong to the branch established for the ward or voting district within which they live. Where no branch has yet been established in a ward, the Provincial Executive, or Regional Executive where one has been established, must allocate the members, in consultation with them, to the closest branch where it is practical and functional for them to be included as members.

3.9.3    A member of the Party can be a member of only one branch. Public representatives may attend and speak at all branches in the area of jurisdiction which they represent or which has been allocated to them, but they are entitled to vote only in the branch of which they are members.

3.9.4    A public representative may join any branch within the constituency or ward for which he or she is responsible, even if he or she does not live within that area, provided that he or she must advise the relevant Provincial or Regional Secretary of his or her choice.

3.9.5    A member may apply to the Provincial Executive to join a branch other than the branch within the area in which he or she lives. The Provincial Executive shall approve the application only on good cause shown.

3.10    AREA OF JURISDICTION OF BRANCHES

3.10.1    The area of jurisdiction of a branch must not be smaller than a voting district. The purpose of forming more than one branch per ward is for the promotion of the organizational objectives of the Party or for the convenience of the members of the Party in the ward and does not entitle the branches to more or additional representation in higher structures than there would have been had there been only one branch in the ward.

3.10.2     The area of jurisdiction of a branch is:

3.10.2.1    the entire municipal ward if there is only one branch in the ward,

3.10.2.2    as many voting districts as the Provincial or Regional Executive may direct if there is more than one branch in a ward;

3.10.2.3    more than one ward if the Provincial or Regional Executive deems it not possible to establish and maintain a branch for each ward in the immediate future.

3.11    REPRESENTATION OF BRANCHES

3.11.1    Where there is more than one branch in a ward, the representation to other structures of the party will be allocated between the branches within the ward proportionately on the basis of membership numbers in each of the branches as to 50% of the representation and the remaining 50% on the basis of the most recent election results in the voting district or districts concerned.

3.11.2    If the branches in a ward are jointly entitled to fewer representatives to higher bodies than the number of branches, or if that representation must be shared between branches, the representatives will be elected using a proportional voting system approved by the Federal Council by delegates from the branches involved at a combined branch meeting held at a date time and venue approved by the Constituency Committee. Each branch will be represented at that meeting by a number of delegates determined by the Constituency Committee on the basis of the membership of each branch.

3.11.3    The entitlement of a branch to representation to other structures of the Party is determined by the status of that branch as at the last audit date as provided in clause 2.3.3.

3.12    BRANCHES CROSSING PROVINCIAL BOUNDARIES

3.12.1    Where a municipality has been established across provincial boundaries, and a ward within the municipality falls within two provinces, branches comprising a voting district or districts may be established within each part of the ward within each province.

3.12.2    In the event of only one branch being established in a cross boundary ward the Provincial Executives must enter into an agreement and allocate the branch for management and representation purposes to an appropriate Party structure in one of the provinces.

3.12.3    Two or more branches falling within different provinces may, on account of their geographical situation and common interests, with the approval of the Provincial Executives, constitute a liaison committee to deal with common interests.

3.13    FORMATION OF BRANCHES

3.13.1    A branch may only be formed with the prior approval of the body vested with this responsibility in the Provincial Constitution and the Constituency Committee, and the branch area of jurisdiction must be determined at the same time. Approval for the formation of a branch must not be unreasonably withheld.

3.13.2    A branch may only be formed if the Provincial Executive certifies that there are at least 25 members within the area of jurisdiction of the branch.

3.13.3    A branch ceases to exist if its members drop below 25 as certified by the membership audit, or if a general meeting of the branch, of which notice was given to all members of the branch, decides to dissolve the branch, or if the branch fails to hold an annual general meeting. The members of the branch must then be transferred to an adjoining branch as determined by the Provincial Executive.

3.14    BRANCH MEETINGS

3.14.1        A Provincial Executive or where there is one, a Regional Executive, or the Constituency Committee as the case may be, may require a Branch Executive, which has failed to carry out its mandate in terms of the constitution, to convene a meeting of members for the purpose of electing a new Branch Executive and, if it fails to do so within 30 days, the Provincial or Regional Executive may itself convene such a meeting.

3.14.2        When a new branch is about to be formed or an existing branch is to hold an annual general meeting a notice indicating the date, time and venue of the meeting and the nature of the business to be transacted must be given to all of the members of the branch resident in the ward, to all public representatives of the Party responsible for the area and to the office of the Provincial or Regional Executive as the case may be. At least 14 days notice is required before such a meeting may be held.

3.14.3    The quorum for the holding of an inaugural meeting and for an annual general meeting will in all cases be thirteen (13) members.

3.14.4    The presiding officer at all inaugural and annual general meetings of branches must be a person designated by the Provincial or Regional Executive, as the case may be.

3.14.5    The Chairperson of a Branch Executive must call a general meeting of the branch within twenty one days if one-fifth of the members of the branch so request in writing.

3.15    BRANCH EXECUTIVES

Branch Executives:

3.15.1    must meet on a regular basis, but not less than twice annually, at times, dates and venues determined by the Chairperson;

3.15.2    in general manage and guide the activities of the Party within their area of jurisdiction and ensure that the programme of action of the Party is implemented as far as possible;

3.15.3    give effect to the decisions of higher formations of the Party;

3.15.4    report to the Constituency Committee and, when so required, to other higher formations of the Party on activities and on local ideas and opinion;

3.15.5    assist the public representatives of the Party in implementing the policy and the programme of action;

3.15.6    communicate with members of the Party and the broader public in order to mobilize support for the Party;

3.15.7    subject to the decisions and guidelines of higher formations, open offices, acquire equipment, employ staff and open banking accounts.

3.16    CONSTITUENCIES

3.16.1    A Provincial Executive must, in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer of the Party and after due consultation with the Party structures and the incumbent Members of Parliament and Members of the relevant Provincial Legislature, demarcate constituency boundaries: provided that a Provincial Constitution may place the authority to demarcate with another Party structure.

3.16.2    A constituency must be an area capable of being administered as a unit and must consist of one or more adjacent local municipalities, or, in the case of metropolitan areas or large municipalities, of adjacent wards, forming one geographical area.

3.16.3    Every constituency must have a Constituency Committee consisting of at least one representative from each branch within the constituency area.

3.16.4    The duly constituted Constituency Committee may elect from amongst its members a Constituency Executive.

3.16.5    The public representative allocated to the constituency in terms of clause 3.18 as well as all councillors representing ward in the constituency or who are list councillors but have been allocated to a ward in the constituency, are automatically members of the Constituency Committee.

3.17    POWER AND FUNCTIONS OF THE CONSTITUENCY COMMITTEES

The Constituency Committee

3.17.1    participates in drafting an annual programme for the constituency and all its branches; and

3.17.2    assists the public representatives and management of the Party in implementing the policies and the programme of action of the Party.

3.18    CONSTITUENCY REPRESENTATIVES

3.18.1    The Provincial Executive must, after having demarcated constituencies in accordance with clause 3.16.1, allocate one Member of Parliament or one Member of the Provincial Legislature, to a constituency as the Constituency Representative.

3.18.2    The Constituency Representative is the political leader in that constituency and is directly responsible to the Provincial and Federal leadership for the proper political functioning of the constituency and the branches within the constituency.

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