Official Board of Highland Dancing

OFFICIAL BOARD OF HIGHLAND DANCING (SOUTH AFRICA)

CONSTITUTION FOR A GOVERNING STRUCTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA

STRUCTURE - to be comprised as follows :

 Central Body  4 Regional structures - 1 in each Province being : Kwa-Zulu Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng PART ONE - CENTRAL BODY

RESPONSIBILITIES

 To be responsible for insuring the total compliance, in all dancing matters, to the rules laid down by the SOBHD as well as the Central body in South Africa  To carry out the annual registration of dancers, teachers and adjudicators  To issue current lists annually of registered teachers and adjudicators and to confirm adjudicators accreditation  To liaise with the SOBHD. All business dealings with Scotland must go through the central body.  To receive and distribute the SOBHD Minutes to the regional committees To pass and approve prospectuses for Championships and Competitions and distribute a list of those events, and their dates, as soon as they have been passed  To issue an annual calendar of events  To do the annual blanket registration of teachers to SAMRO  To handle internal disputes  To receive the Minutes and correspondence from the regional committees  To administer the Protea Awards competition annually  To distribute Minutes of the meetings of the Central Body to the regional committees  PRO function  To maintain and update the records of the South African Highland Dancing Championships  To maintain and update the records of the South African Inter-provincial Highland Dancing Championships

MEMBERSHIP

REPRESENTED MEMBERS  3 Delegates from each regional committee. Delegates must hold a professional dancing qualification  On issues requiring a vote, the represented members shall each be allocated 3 votes, provided that they have a delegate present at the meeting or AGM. Therefore, irrespective of the number of delegates a region may have present at the meeting, each region may exercise 3 votes. Each office-bearer (except the Registrar), shall be entitled to 1 vote, the vote of the chairman being exercised as a casting vote only  Must be 21 years of age or older

 Adjudicators Representative – will be elected annually. The adjudicators representative must be a member of the Worldwide Panel of Adjudicators. The remit of this representative will be : o To oversee all matters pertaining to judges and judging o To assist new applicants with the judges test, when required

1 OFFICIAL BOARD OF HIGHLAND DANCING (SOUTH AFRICA)

o To assist members of the judges panel with Continuing Professional Development o Together with the Chairman and Secretary of the OBHD(SA), shall form a committee to oversee the Continuing Professional Development of Adjudicators on the South African panel. This committee would also deal with any issues that may be brought to the attention of the Adjudicators Representative o The adjudicators representative will be entitled to 1 vote at any meeting of the OBHD(SA)

 The above members plus Office Bearers shall comprise the Directors of the Board

INDEPENDENT MEMBERS

 Retiring Office-bearers may be eligible for election as Independent members. As an Independent member they will be entitled to exercise 1 vote at any meeting of the OBHD(SA). Further, they will be eligible for re-election annually provided that they remain a paid-up member of the OBHD(SA) and they attend a minimum of 2 meetings of the OBHD(SA) each calendar year

HONORARY MEMBERS

 May be appointed by the Central Body for life in recognition of his/her services in furthering the interests of Highland Dancing and will be entitled to vote at any meeting he/she attends

COMPOSITION OF THE CENTRAL BODY

 Shall consist of a Board of Directors, Honorary members and Independent Members

Office-Bearers  Shall be elected to the Board of Directors.

 Chairman  Vice-Chairman  Secretary  Treasurer  Registrar - non-voting

 These officials need not be from the same region, however, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman must be from different regions  All officials with the exception of the treasurer must hold a professional dancing qualification  The treasurer must have a sound working knowledge of cash handling and a strong accounting background  The central body, through the office-bearers, may appoint an Administrator, as a salaried employee to carry out the administrative duties of the Board and act as Secretary to the Board and to Board committees. The general terms, conditions and job description of the employment will be agreed by the Office-Bearers with the Administrator  If the chairman elected is a regional delegate, then that region shall be entitled to elect another delegate in order that their region should not lose one of their votes  The chairman of the OBHD(SA) shall not be eligible for election as an office-bearer on any regional committee in membership of the OBHD(SA)

ELECTIONS

 Office-bearers - must be elected annually at the AGM

 Retiring Office-bearers may be eligible for election as Independent members annually provided they have met the necessary requirements as laid down under the paragraph “INDEPENDENT MEMBERS”

 Represented - shall be elected by regional committees

 Independent Members - will be eligible for re-election annually provided that they remain a paid-up member of the OBHD(SA) and they attend a minimum of 2 meetings of the OBHD(SA) each calendar year

MEETINGS

 Shall be held a minimum of twice a year  A meeting to be held in conjunction with the SA Championship competition  The other meetings to be rotated as agreed  The costs of office-bearers attending “AWAY” meetings, to be borne by the Central Body  To fund the cost of the travel for the Adjudicators representative to attend the Annual General Meeting if required

FINANCES

HONORARIUM Chairman – shall be entitled to receive an annual Honorarium, which amount shall be determined annually by the Treasurer and agreed to by the Members. This Honorarium shall be payable annually in November

Adjudicators representative, Registrar and Secretary - shall be entitled to receive an annual Honorarium, which amount shall be determined annually by the Treasurer and agreed to by the Members. This Honorarium shall be payable annually in November

REGISTRATION FEES  Annual registration fees determined by the Central Body, will be payable by each dancer, teacher and adjudicator, to the Central Body each year  The funds collected by the OBHD(SA) should be used to fund 1 delegate from each region, should the meeting not be held in that region, to attend the board meetings, unless it is deemed reasonable for the delegate to join the meeting via tele-conference  Each of the 4 regions shall receive a quarter of the balance remaining [after OBHD(SA) expenses] of each year’s annual registration fee, in order to administer their area  Championship registration will be payable by Championship organisers. Championships will be authorised as laid down in SOBHD rules

PROPERTY FUNDS AND BOOKS  All monies subscribed or paid out and all property acquired on behalf of the Board, shall belong to the Board

AUDITORS AND FINANCIAL YEAR  The financial year end of the Board shall end on the 31st May  A Registered Accountant shall be appointed by the Board to examine the books and the

Annual Accounts of the Board. The registered Accountant shall have access to all books and vouchers and shall verify that the Annual Accounts are correct by signing a copy of the Accounts or shall report to the Board in what respects they are incorrect

LEGISLATION  The constitution and rules of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing shall be recognised as a part of this constitution

PART 2 - REGIONAL COMMITTEES

 All regional committees to follow a standard constitution

COMPOSITION  Shall comprise office-bearers, professional members, competition organisers, local associations etc.  3 Delegates to the central body, all of whom must hold professional dancing qualifications, shall be appointed by the regional committee

RESPONSIBILITIES  The total administration and implementation of SOBHD and local rules and regulations within the region  To conduct Scrutineering seminars annually  To convene annual Competition Organisers meetings  To insure that the necessary Adjudicators refreshers are properly scheduled, conducted and attended and the necessary attendance lists forwarded to the Central Bod.  To submit an annual Statement of Income and Expenditure to the Board  To receive and distribute Minutes and correspondence from the Central Body  To receive SOBHD Minutes

MEETINGS  To meet, physically, no less than twice a year  The Minutes of the meeting to be recorded and forwarded to the Central Body and other regional committees  An Annual General Meeting must be held every year. At the Annual General Meeting there must be an election of office-bearers, nominations for which must have been advertised on an agenda. At the Annual General Meeting, the Financial Statements for the region must be presented to the members for their acceptance

FINANCES  An agreed percentage of the annual Registration fees to be re-distributed to the committees  To assist competitions with away judge expenses  To account for money received and submit a Statement of Income and Expenditure to the Central Body, annually, no later than the 30th June. In the event that this is not received by the treasurer by the 30th June, then the treasurer shall issue the region with notice advising them that they have 30 days in which to remedy the situation. If the Statement of Income and Expenditure is still not received by the 30th July, then that region shall be excluded from submitting any nominations and or, propositions, nor shall they be permitted to speak, or vote, at any meeting of the Board, until such time as the required information is received  The financial year to be from 1st June to 31st May. 4 OFFICIAL BOARD OF HIGHLAND DANCING (SOUTH AFRICA)

 In the eventuality of a regional committee disbanding, funds will be distributed to the OBHD(SA).

Updated January 2017