Extract from the Constitution of the GCTCA

Extract from the Constitution of the Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance

NAME

1. The name shall be THE GREATER CAPE TOWN CIVIC ALLIANCE, henceforth referred to as “The Alliance”.


NATURE

2. The Alliance shall be a voluntary association which represents residents, ratepayers, civics and other interest groups within Cape Town, that are concerned with matters of government local and other spheres and are not aligned to any political party or other structure with a separate existence from their constituent members.


LEGAL IDENTITY & PERSONA

3. The Alliance is a “universitas personarum”, an independent legal persona or entity, distinct from the individuals who comprise it, having the capacity of acquiring rights of property, of incurring obligations and of suing or being sued in its own name and having perpetual succession, and neither members nor the Executive Committee shall be answerable for the debts or engagements of the Association.


AREA

4. The area of The Alliance shall be the municipal area administered by the CITY OF CAPE TOWN.


OBJECTIVES

5. The objectives of The Alliance shall be the following:


5.1 To protect and promote the interests of its members in regard to objectives 5.2 and 5.3

5.2 To obtain membership of any forum or similar body established for the discussion of, or negotiations on, the constitutional status of local government.

5.3 To make representations to and, where relevant, to gain access to any forum, committee, federation or like body established for the discussion of, or required to deal with, the constitutional, financial or organisational changes to government with the purpose of ensuring that any such changes to government in the area covered by The Alliance furthers the interests of its constituent members.

5.4 To work for and promote the recognition of The Alliance as a body whose prior participation in the decision process would first be sought to ensure the favourable outcome of government decisions affecting its area.

5.5 To set up effective public participation systems to ensure effective participation by the people in planned and proposed government processes.

5.6 The Alliance shall not normally concern itself with any issue which is parochial or peculiar to a member’s area unless the principles involved could affect other members, or unless support on an issue or issues is so requested by the affected area’s chairperson.


MEMBERSHIP

6. The members of The Alliance shall be those bodies that are ratepayers, tenants, residents, non-politically aligned civics associations or other bodies constituted for similar purposes, which are not members of any other regional or national body with aims or objects conflicting with those of The Alliance, and which;

6.1 Have a constitution with the aim or object of promoting its members’ interests in local government;

6.2 Have a provable list of members in good standing;

6.3 Accept the objectives of The Alliance and this Constitution by a minuted resolution at a properly constituted general meeting of its members.

6.4 Notwithstanding that membership is restricted to organisations as referred to in 6 above, each member Body may be represented at any meeting of the Alliance whether General or Executive by not more that two participating members, excluding observing members and providing that those two members are duly mandated to represent the body they belong to.

6.5 It is hereby recorded that membership of The Alliance is granted to a member organisation and that the individuals so representing that organisation are understood to speak for and on behalf of their parent body and so carry that body’s mandate to express their views.

7. The bodies, which have attested to this Constitution, shall be the members of The Alliance together with any body that is admitted as a member in terms of Clause 8.

8. 8.1 After the founding of The Alliance, any body which applies for membership shall, if it qualifies in terms of the provisions of Clause 6, be admitted as a member, excepting that The Alliance reserves the right to associate or disassociate itself with any other body in accordance with the provision of this Constitution.

8.2 It is hereby noted that the Ratepayers, Civics and Residents Associations that caused the formation The Alliance in June 2005 are automatically accepted as full members of The Alliance and, by virtue of their involvement in the inaugural meetings of the Association, hereby bind themselves to this Constitution.

CBBRA was a founding member of the GCTCA which was formed to respond to the drafts of the forthcoming new Cape Town Integrated Zonng Scheme and which has spread its attentions to a wide variety if issues concerning Ratepayers’ and Residents’ interests in their dealings with Municipal, Provincial and National Departments related to property and services matters. The GCTCA represents over 120 Civic Associations.

For copies of the Audit and the City’s replies, contact John Powell at powelltalk@icon.co.za.

For further details of the GCTCA’s activities contact its Vice-Chairperson, Dr. Graham Noble at noblescarbs@gmail.com