National Religious Leader's Forum-Constitution

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS’ FORUM PO Box 93642, Yeoville 2143 Tel/Fax: (011) 648-5948 Email: nrlf@telkomsa.net _____________________________________________________________ RULES OF PROCEDURE The National Religious Leaders’ Forum shall be a body representative of the various faith communities of South Africa. A AIMS A.1 The Forum commits itself to mobilise religious leadership and its constituents to work towards moral regeneration of the citizens of South Africa and to develop a consensus to: A.2 act jointly on behalf of the faith communities in approaching government and other relevant parties on common issues in order to safeguard moral standards; A.3 approach government where this is considered necessary to protect the religious rights of citizens; A.4 encourage members of faith communities to become actively involved in nation building; A.5 work actively and, where possible, jointly to relieve the widespread poverty in South Africa and to tackle its root causes; A.6 promote understanding of the basic tenets of each faith among the diverse faith communities of our country and to foster good relationships amongst them all. B MEMBERSHIP B.1 Membership of the National Religious Leaders’ Forum shall be open to any religious group in South Africa that operates at a national level and in at least three provinces, and that accepts the above guiding principles. B.2 The National Religious Leaders’ Forum shall operate by consensus whenever possible. When voting is necessary at plenary meetings each faith group shall have one vote except Christianity which shall have four because of its large number of adherents in South Africa. B.3 Application for membership shall be lodged with the Secretary and shall be decided by the Executive Committee, who may delegate consideration of applications to the Working Committee. B.4 Membership fees shall be R500 per annum per organisation, subject to periodic review. C. PLENARY MEETINGS C.1 The National Religious Leaders’ Forum shall consist of representatives of its member organisations. It shall meet in plenary session convened for this purpose at least once a year. C.2 The plenary meeting shall be the authoritative decision-making body of the Forum. C.3 Observers may be admitted to National Religious Leaders’ Forum meetings but shall have no voting rights. C.4 The National Religious Leaders’ Forum shall elect an Executive Committee which shall hold office for two years. Members shall be eligible for re-election. C.5 The representatives of each faith group shall elect their member(s) of the Executive Committee. D EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE D.1 The Executive Committee shall consist of between 7 and 15 members who shall carry on the work of the National Religious Leaders’ Forum between plenary National Religious Leaders’ Forum meetings. D.2 The Executive Committee shall meet at least three times a year. D.3 The Executive Committee shall have at least one representative of each of the African Traditional Religion, Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths. Christian representation on the Executive Committee shall be three members. D.4 The Executive Committee shall elect a chairperson and a deputy chairperson. D.5 The Executive Committee shall appoint a Working Committee of at least eight members. E WORKING COMMITTEE E.1 The Working Committee, which shall also be representative, shall meet regularly, and shall be responsible for the day-to-day running of the National Religious Leaders’ Forum. E.2 It shall also ensure that an annual report on the activities of the National Religious Leaders’ Forum shall be presented to the annual plenary National Religious Leaders’ Forum meeting. F SECRETARY F.1 The Working Committee shall appoint a part-time Secretary to assist in the efficient running of the National Religious Leaders’ Forum and its committees. S/he shall also attend all Working Committee meetings. The appointment shall be ratified by the Executive Committee. G FINANCE G.1 The Executive Committee shall ensure the keeping of proper financial records and the operation of a bank account. G.2 Signatories shall be any two of: a member of the Executive Committee, two members of the Working Committee and the Secretary. G.3 Annual accounts that have been independently audited shall be presented to the annual plenary meeting. H RULES OF PROCEDURE H.1 These Rules of Procedure shall come into force when accepted at a National Religious Leaders’ Forum plenary meeting. H.2 They may be amended by a two-thirds majority of votes at a National Religious Leaders’ Forum plenary meeting, provided at least one month’s notice of the proposed amendments has been given to the members.