UIF - United Independent Front

:: The UIF Constitution - As amended and adopted at Pretoria August 2008

Preamble

The UIF was formed in September 2005. The UIF will strive to represent the aspirations of the poor and the marginalized citizens of this country. Over a long period of time, we have been watching and doing nothing while the country is drifting away from the challenges facing the poor in this country. With the coming together of leaders from different backgrounds and political organization, we must ensure that the gap between the rich and the poor is narrowed as soon as possible.

Name

The name of the party shall be the United Independent Front and its abbreviated form shall be also known as the UIF.

The Logo and the color shall be Black, Green, Red, Orange and White, and shall be depicted in the form as set out on the fist page hereof. The registered office and the National office of the party shall be: No 122 7th Avenue Belmont Park, Kraaifontein, Cape Town.

Membership, and annual membership fees

Membership shall be opened to all South African citizens over the age of sixteen (16), irrespective of race, colour or creed who accept and subscribe to the aims, objectives, principles and policies of the Party and who undertake to abide by the constitution, rules and directives of the party provided that:

Is not a current member of any other political party.
The necessary annual membership fees are paid.
An application for membership has been made and approved, and the person has been issued with a membership card.
Application for Membership shall:

Be made in the prescribed form issued by the National office.

Be made with payment of the prescribed fee of R10.00 (ten rand) in respect of the application and the payment of the annual membership fee, currently R10.00 (ten rand) per annum (or such annual fee as prescribed by the National Executive Committee from time to time.)

Be submitted for consideration to the applicable Local Branch Executive Committee where such exists, alternatively to the Regional Executive Committee or the Provincial Executive Committee. If no Branch Executive Committee exist or such interim structures as the Provincial Executive Committee or the National Executive may create from time to time to decide on applications.

The structure to which the application is submitted shall consider the application and have the power to accept or refuse any application for membership.

In the event of an application being refused:

The applicant shall be advised of the reason for such a refusal in writing, An unsuccessful applicant shall have the right to appeal to the next higher organ of the party alternative an objection can be launched to the approval of the membership by an existing member provided that in either event:

The appeal must be submitted in writing to the next higher organ of the party what in thirty (30) days of the decision appealed against, and in the case of the approval of an application for membership, a copy must be provided to the applicant.
The appeal must specify that the decision appeal against.
Clear reasons for the basis of the appeal must be submitted.
All rights and obligations, which flow from the appeal, will be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal process.

Should an application for membership be approved the applicant will be issued with a membership card.

The membership card issued to the member shall have to be presented by the member, when renewing the annual membership and at all meetings, conferences and other activities undertaken by the party if so required.

All new members shall be issued with documentation relating to the Party and the details of the branch and constituency / area in which the member resides and any other available information about the local branch structure and the Party.

Any member of the UIF who stands in an election for local government, provincial or national government elections or acts as the election agent or canvasser of a person standing for such election in opposition to a candidate duly endorsed by the PEC or NEC shall be ineligible to be or remain a member.

Structure of the Party

The structure of the Party shall be as per the diagram attached hereto marked "Annexure A"

Local Branches

The lowest structure within the Party shall be a Local Branch.
Every member of the Party shall belong to a branch, unless a local branch has not yet been established for that particular area, in which case the member shall belong to the Regional Branch, and if the Regional Branch has not yet been established for that particular Region to the Provincial Branch or any other structure as the National Executive Committee may determine.

A Local Branch shall have at least fifty (50) members and be registered upon written application on the prescribed form issued by the National Office as a local branch within the Regional Branch within which the Branch falls, and failing the existence of a Regional Branch, the Provincial Branch or any other structure as the National Executive Committee may determine until such time as a Regional Branch has been established.

A Local Branch shall be capable of being created within the areas, which are currently demarcated as Local Government Wards or combined wards or an Administrative District in Rural areas.
The Regional Executive Committee, or in the event that no Regional Branch exist, the Provincial Branch, or in the event that no Provincial Branch exist the National Executive Committee, shall upon request from any member within a ward, where a Local Branch does not exist consider whether there are sufficient members for the establishment of a Local Branch and if there is, consider a resolution in order to:
Appoint three of its committee members as joint returning officers for a meeting of the members of that ward.

Set a date and call a meeting of the members of that ward(with at least seven (7) days notice for the purpose of assisting the members of that ward to apply for registration as a Local Branch and hold elections for positions on the initial branch executive committee which shall consist of not less than seven (7) and not more than eleven (11) members, and shall include a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Treasurer and at most six (6) other committee members elected by the members of the applying Branch.

Authorise the three (3) members appointed to chair and facilitate the meeting.

Upon written application on the prescribed form for registration as a Local Branch the application shall be considered by the Regional Branch, or in the event that no Regional Branch exist, the Provincial Branch, or in the event that no Provincial Branch exist the National Executive Committee. A written decision by the committee considering the application shall be provided to the applicants.

The members of an unsuccessful application shall have the right to appeal against the decision to the next higher level of the Party (save in the event that the application was made to the National executive Committee, in which case the appeal will be lodged within the National executive committee), alternatively, an objection can be lodged to the approval of and registration of the Local Branch by another Local Branch provided that:

Any appeal must be submitted in writing to the appeal committee, as the case may be, of the Party within thirty (30) days of the decision appealed against, and in the case of an appeal against the registration of a Local Branch a copy thereof must be provided to the members applying for such registration.

The appeal must specify the decision appealed against.
Clear reasons for the basis of the appeal must be submitted.
All documentation in support of the appeal must be submitted and any request for additional information from the appeal committee must be complied with.
All rights and obligations, which a Local Branch might have acquired, will be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal process.
Appeals will be dealt with as expeditiously as possible and in any event be determined within thirty (30) days of the lodging of an appeal.

The Local Branch Executive Committee (hereinafter referred to as 'The BEC')

Constitution of the BEC

The BEC originally elected and registered with the application for registration as a local branch (in terms of the clause 8.2 and 8.4.2 hereof) and any such further BEC members appointed in terms hereof shall hold office until the next BEC elections, which shall take place at the times determined by the National Executive Committee of the party, provided that the elections for BEC position will not take place within twelve (12) months of the previous elections.

Should any BEC member be unable to continue acting as such for whatever reason including but not limited to the following events: Death, illness and or mental incapacity;
Registration from the position held on the BEC;
Loss of membership through non-renewal and/or disciplinary proceedings instituted against the member then The BEC shall report such an event after its monthly meeting and in any event with in thirty (30) days of the event occurring in writing to:

The Provincial Executive Committee, or
The National Executive Committee in the absence of a Provincial Executive Committee having been established.
Within thirty (30) days of such an event being reported to the Provincial, Executive committee or the National Executive Committee, as the case may be, the Provincial Executive Committee shall confirm the aforesaid event to the BEC and either:

Instruct the BEC to fill the position by holding elections amongst its members upon the terms set out in clauses 8.9, 8.10 and 8.11 hereof. Leave the position vacant in the event of the BEC annual elections being less than Sixty (60) days away.

Any BEC position not created or filled at the time of the registration of the local branch or becoming vacant after having been filled and the BEC having been instructed to fill such a position , shall be capable of being created and/or filled after registration of the local branch, provided that:

In the event of a new position, the BEC decides to create such an additional position, Notice of and nominations for the new/vacant position is called for by the BEC and given to the membership of the Local Branch, provincial Executive Committee (if in existence) and the National Executive Committee, Nominations are to be submitted to the BEC within seven working days of the notice in being given. Each member of the local branch shall be entitled to nominate one other member of that branch only. The BEC shall provide the Provincial Executive Committee (if in existence) and the National Executive Committee with a list of all the nominations and confirm therein the membership numbers, and the member nominated and the nominating member within seven (7) days of the nomination period.

The National Executive Committee shall consider the list of nominations and return to the Provincial Executive Committee and the BEC a list of candidates to contest the election within (7) days of receiving the nomination list. The list of candidates will be compiled on the following basis: The seven (7) candidates with the most number of nominations will be entitled to contest the elections.
The candidates will then be scrutinized to ensure that they are eligible for election, if not, the candidate(s) will be removed from the list and the candidate with the most number of nominations will be added to the list. The scrutiny process shall again take place and the procedure set out herein shall be repeated until the list contains seven (7) eligible candidates, or in the event of there not being seven (7) eligible candidates, such number of The list eligible candidates, shall prior to being return to the Provincial Executive Committee and the BEC, be scrambled in no particular order.
The BEC shall upon receipt of the list of the candidates: Advise the candidates contesting the elections of their successful nominations;
Advise the Regional Executive Committee or in their absence the Provincial Executive Committee, or in their absence the National Executive Committee and the membership of the local branch of the list of candidates contesting the elections by posting, telephoning or emailing same to the membership and by displaying the candidates list who will contest the elections at the registered office of the local branch.
At the same time of , give notice of a date, time and venue, which date shall not be less than fourteen (14) days in the future, for the election to take place.

Elections

The election shall take place on the date, time and venue stipulated in the aforesaid notice and shall be attended by:

The BEC

Two (2) members of the Regional Executive Committee, or in the event of no REC, the PEC if in existence and if no PEC is in existence the NEC (as chosen by the different Executive Committees to represent it).
The members of the local branch.
The REC, PEC or NEC members referred to above shall oversee the elections and assist in the accreditation process.
The members of the local branch who wish to attend the election and vote for a candidate shall be required To be a member of the Party.
To provide proof of their membership by production of their membership card.
To ensure that their annual membership fees has been paid up.
To have the recordal of their name in the register of the local branch (or such other register as the case may be) secretary of the BEC.
This accreditation process will take place prior to the election proceeding.

A simple majority vote of the Provincial Executive Committee members (if any) the National Executive Committee members and the BEC Secretary by a show of hands to the accreditation of a member shall be final.

The election for the filling of positions on the BEC shall take place by a simple show of hands of those accredited members of the local branch present following the order provided in the list of candidates.
The vote counts will be verified by the REC, PEC or NEC members (if any) and the BEC secretary, and be announced after the elections at the venue.
The result of the elections will be provided by the BEC to the REC or PEC (if in existence) and to the Nation Executive Committee.

Provincial Branches

The next highest structure within the party shall be a Provincial Branch.

A provincial branch shall:
Be capable of being created within the areas, which are currently demarcated in the constitution of the Republic South Africa as Provinces.
Have at least five (5) registered local branches within its provincial area and be registered as a provincial branch with the National Office.
The provincial branches shall consist of the following positions:

The National Office shall either at the time that a Province has five (5) registered local branches or anytime thereafter, call for the creation of the provincial branches and to this end:
Give notice that a Provincial Branch shall be established to all the registered local branches of that Province.
Request from the BEC of the registered local branches nomination for filling the positions on the Provincial Branch set out in clause which nominations must be submitted to the National Office within twenty (20) days from the date of request.
Upon receipt of the request for nominations from the National Office the BEC shall by posting, telephonically, emailing same to membership of the local branch and by displaying a copy of a notice at the registered office of the branch give notice of the following:

The establishment of the Provincial Branch.
The position available for nominations.
Request nominations for the position to be submitted within fifteen (15) days of the notice.

Each member of a local branch shall be entitled to nominate one other member only for each position. The BEC shall provide the National Executive Committee with a list of all the nominations and confirm the membership numbers and the membership of the member nominated and the nominating member within the time period stipulated in10.3.3.3

The National Executive Committee shall consider all the nominations (from all the local branches) and return to all the BEC of the local Branches within ten (10) days of receiving the nomination list; containing the list of candidates to contest the provincial election, stipulated a date, time and a venue for the elections to take place.
The list for candidate (for each position) will be compiled on the same basis as set out in clause 8.2.7 above.

Upon receipt of the list the BEC of the local branch shall:
Advise the candidates contesting the provincial elections. Advise the membership of the local branch of the list of candidates contesting the provincial local elections by posting, telephoning or emailing same to the membership, by displaying a list of the candidates who will contest the provincial elections at the registered office of the local branch and at the same time advising of the date, time and venue of the Provincial Election as set by the National Executive Committee.
The provincial elections and accreditation shall then be conducted and overseen on the National Executive Committee for that purpose, consisting of the least five (5) persons and hereinafter referred to as the election committee.

The members of the local branch who wish to attend the provincial elections and vote for candidate shall be required:
To be a member of the party.
To provide proof of their membership by producing their membership card.
To ensure that their annual membership fees has been paid up.

To have the recordal of their names in the register of the local branch (or such other register ad the case may be) by the secretary of the BEC.
This accreditation of a member shall be final, save in the event of deadlock in which case the general secretary shall have the deciding vote.
The provincial elections shall take place by a show of hands, or such other method as determined by the election committee, of those accredited members of the local branches present in the following order: Provincial chairperson, deputy Provincial Chairperson, Provincial secretary, Deputy Provincial Secretary and Provincial Treasurer and the order of nominees for each position as provided in the list of candidates.
The votes will be counted and verified by the members of the committee formed by the National Executive Committee and shall be announced after the elections for each position on the Provincial Executive Committee at the venue. Should a member of a local branch be elected to a position on the Provincial Executive Committee and be a candidate for one of the other positions, the members name must be removed from the candidate list in respect of the other positions and the other position shall only be contested between the remaining candidates.

The election committee shall also at the end of every elections prepare a list of the members voted onto the Provincial Executive Committee and cause such list to be distributed to the local branches where the list will be displayed and provide a copy of such list to the National Executive Committee and the Secretary of the party.

The members elected will form the executive of the Provincial Executive Committee and be registered as such in the records of the Party.

Provincial Conference

Each province shall at least once a year have a Provincial Council at a date and time agreed to be in consultation with the National Office. The Provincial Council shall be attended by:

The PEC members.
The members of any regional council established within the province.
One (1) representatives from the Women's organization in the province, as elected by that organization; and Any elected public representatives of the party within the province.

This Provincial Council shall:
Receive and consider reports by the Provincial Chairperson on the status of the Province for preceding financial year.

Receive and consider the Provincial Secretary's report. Receive and consider the Provincial Executive Treasurer's report and accounts and balance sheets of the Province for the preceding financial year.
In an election year (which shall be every four (4) years as when the previous office bearers of the PEC terms expire), accept nominations for the PEC office bearers, as received from the National Office and elect such PEC office bearers, at such elections, the NEC will appoint the election committee as provided in clause 10.2.10 who will be responsible for the accreditation and election procedure along the lines stipulated before.

Have the duty to recommend a provincial list and Candidates Committee, which will identify regulations for the drawing up of the provincial list of candidate for National election, Provincial elections and for the selection of candidates for local government elections.
Consider any motion/resolution of which notices has been given.
Consider any other business.
Be responsible for:
Discussing and determining the provincial agenda for the following year bearing in mind the policy, and objectives of the party.

Discussing and determining the provincial programme for the following year bearing in mind the policy, aims and objective to the party.

Consider reports from the various structures represented and individuals in order to determine the appropriate course of action over the following year.

Preparing a provincial agenda and a programme for distribution to the regional councils, the local branches and the NEC.

The National Office

The next highest structure within the party shall be the National Office.
The National Office shall:
Consist of the national positions detailed herein below and any such other positions created in terms hereof.
Oversee the provincial branches, and to this end receive reports from the provincial branches stipulated herein' or when called for.
The National office shall carry out the policies of the party and give effect to decisions taken at the National Conference.

National Conferences

The National Conference, or a Special Conference in session, shall be considered the supreme body of and set the political directions of the Party.
The National Conference shall be convened at least every five (5) years by the NEC in consultation with the provinces, although should 70% of the Branches of the party demand a National Conference, a National Conference shall be convened sooner by the NEC and the Province.
Once a date has been set for the National Conference the NEC shall: Confirm the date by notice and simultaneously issue a draft Agenda for the purposes of the National Conference, which shall include draft resolutions, policy decisions, amendment to the constitution etc.

Indicate the number of delegate from each province and branch to attend the National Conference in accordance with the provisions of 13.7.2.

Allocate the percentage of delegates in accordance with clause and call for the election of delegates by those structures.
Call upon the structure of the party to obtain a mandate in respect for the resolutions, decisions, and additional items to be added to the agenda, additional resolutions and or decisions etc.
Call upon the branches of the party to elect delegates to attend the national conference.

Call upon the structures of the party to obtain nominations of candidates for the election official positions on the NEC as described in clause 12.1.1 and 12.1.3.

Call upon the members of the structures who wish to attend the national conference to give notice of their intention.
All responses to the calls listed in 13.3.4 to 13.3.7 shall be attended to within twenty (20) days of the happening in 13.3.1 Thereafter the NEC shall consider the responses and update the agenda, Resolutions, decisions etc, provide a list for the delegates to attend the National Conference, a list of nominations to the official position on the NEC as described in clause 12.1.1 and 12.1.3.

The updated agenda and information referred to in 13.5 shall serve as the official notice and agenda for the purpose of the proceeding at the National Conference.

The National Conference shall be composed of:-
Voting Delegates

At least 90% (ninety percent) of the voting delegates at conference shall be from branches, which shall be presented by the elected delegates. The number of delegates shall be in proportion to the paid up membership.

The number of delegates to be elected to national Conference by each Province shall be fixed by the NEC in proportion to the paid up membership of each province.
The remainder of the 10% (ten percent) of the voting delegates at the conference shall be allocated to the NEC from among the Provincial Executive Committee's the Youth league and the Women's league.
All members of the National Executive Committee shall attend as full participants in the conference.

Non- voting Delegates

Any member of the party shall be entitled to attend the National Conference as an observer, without voting rights, provide that they have given notice of their intention to attend.
Any member being nominated to an official position on the NEC as described in clause 12.1.1 and 12.1.3 shall be entitled to attend the National Conference.

The National Conference shall: Debate, consider and vote on issues detailed in the official agenda including but not limited to policy decision and resolutions. Vote on key questions by secret ballot if at least one third of the delegates at National Conference demand it. Determined its own procedures in accordance with the democratic principles. Hold elections for the appointment of members to the official positions on thence as described in clause 12.1.1 and 12.1.3 and on accordance with the nominations list.

Any amendments to this Constitution shall be by a two-thirds majority of delegates presented and voting at the National or Special Conference.

Notice of the intention to propose any amendments to the constitution should be forwarded to the secretary general at least two (2) months before a National or Special Conference.

The NEC shall provide at least three (3) months notice for any Constitution amendment to the party structures in order that the delegates obtain a mandate from the membership.

Rules

The NEC shall have the power to amend any of the rules and/or regulation relating to the functioning of the Party, provided that:
The NEC has appointed a rules committee to consider the rules to be amended, consider the proposals for amendments and draft amendments.

Notice of the proposed amendments is circulated to the structure of the party in which members are invited to comment in writing to the NEC.

The comments are considered and a final amendment is drafted, adopted by the NEC and circulated to the structures of the Party.

Special Conferences

The NEC may convene a special conference of the party at any time or at the request of a majority of the Provinces for a stated purpose or purposes.

Notice of at least one (1) month of such a special conference shall be given following the procedures set out in clause 15.3, 15.4, 15.5 and 15.6 save for the request for nominations to position.

The composition of a special conference shall be the same as for a National Conference as set out in clause 15.7 above and follow the guidelines as set out in clause 15.6 for the conduct of the conference.

Contractual Liability

Only the president of the party shall have the authority to bind and/or to create a legal relationship between the parties and the third parties in relation to the day to day running of the party, or such other persons nominated by the President and in possession of duly signed letter of authority (limited if necessary) by the President and at least one other member of the Category A members of the NEC.

Dissolution

The National Conference or any Special Conference may dissolve the organization by two-thirds majority of delegates presented and voting and transfer the assets and liabilities of the movement in such a manner as determined by the Conference.

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