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Constitutional Amendments
The following amendments to the Constitution of the Society are proposed:
5.7.2 The Executive shall suspend the Voting Rights of persons more than three months in arrears with their fees and shall drop from Membership persons more than six months in arrears.
5.7.2.1 The Head Office shall, when membership fees become two months overdue at the end of February, advise the person that Voting Rights shall be suspended at the end of March, and further advise persons in arrears at the end of March that they shall be dropped from Membership at the end of June.
5.7.2.2 For this purpose, letters sent by ordinary mail or electronically to the address in the Society’s records shall be deemed to be adequate notice.
5.7.2.3 The Executive may impose a penalty not exceeding the Membership Enrollment Fee for any fee payment in default of this section.”
This change is necessitated by the need to streamline administration and avoid unnecessary time and costs being expended in the annual fee having to be collected over a longer period. Furthermore, a person in default currently retains rights for up to two years, whereas the Society levies an annual fee. This untidy situation also reduces the financial efficacy of the Society. This section currently reads:
5.7.2 The Voting Rights of persons more than six months in arrears with their fees shall be suspended by Council and persons more than 12 months in arrears shall be dropped from Membership by Council.
5.7.2.1 The Treasurer shall when membership fees become three months overdue advise the person that Voting Rights shall be suspended as of the six month date, and further advise persons in arrears in the sixth month that they shall be dropped from Membership at the one year date.
5.7.2.2 For this purpose, letters sent by ordinary mail to the address in the Society’s records shall be deemed to be adequate notice.”
B) Currently (as contained in section 9.2 “Office Bearers in Branches, Divisions, the Executive and Council shall not hold office in the same position for more than two consecutive Terms, a Term being two years in duration, excepting that the President retires at the end of each Term and save that the term of office of both the Past President and President Elect shall be for one year.”), there is a Constitutional anomaly where the Presidency’s term of office is twice that of any other office bearer. When the term of office was changed from one to two years, it was not intended to burden the Presidency with holding office for four years. In addition, Council has already resolved to have the Past President serve a further year on Council after retiring from the Executive, which would take membership of Council to five years! Continuity in senior leadership, stability in Executive office, attracting a wider spread of candidates for the Presidency, and avoidance of constitutional unevenness are ensured by the following amendment: “Office Bearers in Branches, Divisions, the Executive and Council shall not hold office in the same position for more than two consecutive Terms, a Term being two years in duration, save that the term of office of the President Elect, the President and the Past President shall be for one year.”
Any member disagreeing with these amendments should kindly write to the Society Offices by 14 March 2002.Y
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President Visits Branches
PsySSA President, Dr Ann Watts, will be visiting PsySSA Branches throughout the country early in March. These Breakfast Meetings, which will have one CPD point, will be held from 7-8 am in Cape Town (Monday 4), Bloemfontein (Tuesday 5), Pietersburg (Wednesday 6), Pretoria (Friday 8), Johannesburg (Thursday 7) and Durban (Monday 18). While this is a membership activity, guests are welcome to attend. Reservations, which are essential, must be made with Purity at the PsySSA Offices (Tel: 011 616 9373, Fax: 011 616 9377, e-mail: activities@PsySSA.co.za).
President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Health Dr Manto
Tshabalala-Msimang at the Health Summit in Sandton
The PsySSA President and UCT Vice Chancelor Prof Njabulo
Ndebele at the World Conference Against Racism
The PsySSA President and President of ZPA, Ms Kwadzi
Nyanungo, in the joint meeting in Harare
PsySSA Durban Members after the ”11 September -
Consequences for Psychology in SA” lecture
During 2002 the PsySSA leadership will continue to actively work within our Southern African region and internationally to establish working links and relationships with colleagues and sister organisations in these areas. A delegation from PsySSA met for the second time with the Zimbabwe Psychological Association in November last year and the PsySSA President will shortly be formalising a Memorandum of Understanding with the ZPA. One of the aims of this agreement will be the promotion of collaborative work and initiatives in Southern Africa so that we can ensure that psychology is on the policy and socio-economic agendas of the region.
Further afield, the Society is operationalizing its agreements with the APA and BPS. Establishing links with the Canadian and several European Psychological Societies is high on the PsySSA leadership’s agenda. PsySSA and SA Psychology will be well represented at the International Congress on Applied Psychology in Singapore in July. A large contingent of members, which includes Executive and Council members, will be presenting papers and symposia at the meeting. PsySSA is negotiating a group travel package for members who will be attending this conference. Both as South Africans and as representatives of the African continent it is important that we have a visible (and vocal!) presence at such events so that we take our place as part of, and have an impact on, the international psychological community. The International Union of Psychological Science will be holding its General Assembly during the International Congress. More details on the congress may be accessed via the PsySSA website, where there is a link to www.icap2002.org, or by calling the Society Offices.Y
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