CONSTITUTION OF CLUB/ SOCIETY

ARTICLE 1

1. NAME:

a) The name of the Society shall be

b) The Headquarters of this Society shall be at

ARTICLE 2

2. INTERPRETATION:

The following words and expressions shall have the following meanings:-

a) “Society/ Club” shall mean an association of two or more people with a common purpose or
interest who meet regularly and its subscribers are offered certain benefits or discounts or
bonuses in return of regular payments. .
b) “Executive Committee” shall mean the governing body of this Society appointed in terms of
the constitution referred to as a Committee.
c) Words signifying the singular number shall include plural or vice-versa unless they appear
otherwise from the context.

ARTICLE 3

3. OBJECTIVES:

a) To provide financial assistance for burial and matters incidental thereto, of members and
any of the stipulated hereunder:-
i. Spouse of member
ii. Parents of either member or spouse of member
iii. Children of the member regardless of age or marital status
b) To assist with arrangements for and provide whatever assistance is necessary for burial.
c) To provide and cater for whatever needs deemed essential and connected with the welfare
of the member during the time of bereavement.
d) The main objective is to raise funds to meet objectives as raised above for the above
purpose.
e) The Society shall have power to purchase, sell, and lease any immovable property.

ARTICLE 4

4. MEMBERSHIP:

a) Membership shall be opened to

b) Any person or persons wishing to join this society shall apply in writing and appear before
the Executive committee a day before the society sits to be interviewed by the committee in
the presence of his/her friend or referral who is a bona fide member of the said Society, who
shall be able to say what type of person the applicant is and his/her character.
 c) Members shall pay a joining fee and monthly subscription fee which will be revised from
time to time.
d) A member who fails to:
i. Attend meetings without valid reason
ii. Pay USD monthly contributions
shall be charged with misconduct and improper behavior.

The Society shall upon these accusations take appropriate action. Therefore the Society shall:
i. Warn such a member
ii. Send a letter of notice
iii. Should he/she neglect warning, he/she shall ultimately be expelled and furthermore
loose his/her savings with the Society.

ARTICLE 5

5. TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP

If a member wishes to terminate his/her membership, he/she shall:-

a) Do it in writing giving ……………… days’ notice of his/her resignation.
b) His/her contributions to the society shall not be refunded to him/her.
c) The Executive Committee shall have powers to appoint someone in his/her place.
d) Should he/she have been an ordinary member in the society wishing to resign; the full
membership opinion shall be sought.
e) The office bearer who possess any property of the society shall be requested to hand it over
to the Society before he/she leaves.

ARTICLE 6

6. MANAGEMENT OF SOCIETY:

a) The Executive Committee shall consist of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, Vice
Secretary, Treasurer and two additional members. The Executive Committee shall be elected
at an Annual General Meeting for a period of years.
b) The Executive Committee’s duties shall have the following mandates:-
i. To see to the day to day running of the Society.
ii. To consider and accept by registration, new members to the Society.
iii. To deal with any matters within the scope of the aims and objects of the Society.
iv. To refer matters which the committee has failed to settle to the general meetings.

ARTICLE 7

7. SCHEDULE OF EXECUTIVE MEETINGS

a) The Committee shall hold meetings

b) The Committee meetings shall be convened for the purpose of:
i. Discussing and admitting new members.
ii. Drawing up the agenda for the general meeting
iii. Deciding on what action could be taken against members who are in arrears with the
subscription or defaulters to the Society.
iv. To deal with any matters within and incidental to the objects of this Society
 c) The Secretary shall on the instruction of the Chairperson convene Committee meetings by
writing or sending out his/her representatives, stating date and time of the meeting at least
before the set date of the meeting.

ARTICLE 8

8. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS

a) The Annual General Meetings shall be held in the month of………………, every year.
b) An Annual General Meeting shall be convened:
i. To consider the annual report of the Treasurer and the Society’s Chairperson.
ii. To discuss the Secretary’s report reviewing the Society’s Progress.
iii. To consider the financial report of the club.
c) Written agenda shall be sent out to all members at least days before the date of the
meeting, stating time and venue of the meeting.

ARTICLE 9

9. SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

a) A Special General Meeting shall be convened to decide on any urgent matters such as:-
i. Dissolution of the Society when need arises.
ii. To deal with amendments of the Society’s constitution.
iii. To deal with nothing other than matters raised for the meeting.
b) Should the Committee and Chairperson fail to call the meeting, any member of the Society
who is fully registered, could be delegated by the members to call the meeting.
c) If the Chairperson and the Secretary are unable to attend, the members may choose a
Chairperson and the Secretary amongst themselves.
d) Written notice of the meeting shall be sent out to the members at least days in
advance of the date of the meeting.

ARTICLE 10

10. DUTIES OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

a) Chairperson:
i. The Chairperson shall preside over all committee meetings and General meetings.
ii. It shall be the duty of the Chairperson to see that reports for the Annual General
Meetings are made ready and available for the meetings.
iii. He/she shall countersign all cheques on behalf of the Society.
iv. The Chairperson’s normal procedure shall be to put the decisions of the Committee to
the General Meeting where the matter will be decided or taken up by majority of votes.
v. In the case of equality of votes, the Chairperson shall have a casting vote.

b) Vice Chairperson

i. The Vice Chairperson shall carry out all the above mentioned duties in the absence of the
Chairperson and assist him/her in execution of his/her duties.

c) Secretary
 i. He/she shall be responsible for the Society’s records, i.e. writing minutes, sending out
notices of meetings to the individuals by post or publication for both Committee and
General Meetings.
ii. He/she shall conduct all correspondence of the Society and sign letters on their behalf.
d) Vice Secretary
i. In the absence of the Secretary, the Vice Secretary shall carry out the Secretary’s duties
and shall assist the Secretary.
e) Treasurer
i. The treasurer shall keep all records of the Society’s accounts. The Treasurer shall see to
it that all funds are kept in the bank in the name of the Society.
ii. Withdrawals shall be signed by the Treasurer and the Chairperson of the Society.
iii. It is the duty of the Treasurer to see that Annual Financial Reports are prepared for the
Annual General Meeting.
iv. The Executive Committee shall be in the office for a period of Month(s)/year(s).
v. AUDITING OF BOOKS
Under Article 10 (item iv) Society/ Club provides a regulation that their books should be
audited every year soon after closing date in of each year, this will enable the Executive
Committee to give a true report of the previous year. Societies/ Clubs shall observe the
1st Sunday of each year as their closing day soon after the 30th of each year.
f) ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS
Names for the above office bearers shall be proposed and seconded at the Annual General
Meeting and election will follow on a simple majority vote of the members. All office-bearers
may be re-elected to the same or related post for a consecutive two term of office. The term
of office of the Committee shall be years.
Elections will be either by show of hands or by a secret ballot, subject to the agreement of
the majority of the voting members present. An ad hoc committee shall be chosen to run the
elections.

ARTICLE 11

11. CO-OPTION

The Executive Committee may, from time to time and for such period as it shall in each case
determine, co- opt any person whose advice or assistance it requires, but no such person shall vote
on any question before a meeting of the Executive Committee nor shall such a person count the
purpose of constituting a quorum of the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE 12

12. SUB-COMMITTEE

a) The Executive Committee shall appoint Sub-Committee when there is need for them to carry
out specific duties on behalf of the Committee.
b) After the Sub-Committee has finished its work, it will report back to the Executive
Committee in close cooperation with full membership to decide whether or not the Sub-
Committee is to be dissolved, until such time that some type of work arises which shall
demand their services.

ARTICLE 13
 13. QUORUM
The Quorum in all meetings shall be percent( %) of the total membership.

ARTICLE 14

14. ADJOURNMENT

Society/ Club accepts fully that when their business is not finished they have the right to
adjourn their meeting for…… days/weeks. Whereupon the meeting will resume again

ARTICLE 15

15. AUDIT AND FINANCIAL YEAR

a) The committee shall prepare an audited statement of accounts to be presented at the

annual general meeting.
b) They:
i. Will be required to audit each year's accounts and present a report to the Annual
General Meeting.
ii. May be required by the Chairperson to audit the Society’s accounts for any period within
their tenure of office at any date and make a report to the Committee.

ARTICLE 16

16. NO CONFIDENCE

There shall be a vote of no confidence in the event the majority of the members are
aggrieved or are at variance with the Executive Committee or a member. In that regard the
Executive Committee or the member shall vacate the office in favour of his/her deputy or
some other person nominated by the general membership.

Where the out voted member is a Committee member, the following steps shall be taken:-
i. The above member shall be expected to hand-in all the properties of the Society to the
Executive Committee.
ii. The Society shall therefore at its meeting elect a new member to fill his/her vacancy.

ARTICLE 17

17. DISCIPLINE

The club/society shall have a Disciplinary Committee, which shall attend to all matters of
misconduct by club members. This Committee shall recommend upon hearing the matter
the gradation of punishment or sanctions to mete out to an offending member. A member
aggrieved by the decision of the disciplinary committee shall appeal to the Executive
Committee. Any member aggrieved by the Executive Committee’s decision shall appeal to
the Disputes and Appeal Committee.

ARTICLE 18
 18. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES AND APPEALS

i. There shall be a Disputes and Appeals Committee which comprises of members selected
from the general members.
ii. The Committee shall handle appeals from the implementation of disciplinary measures.

ARTICLE 19

19. TRUSTEES AND PATRONS

19.1 If the Society at any time acquires any immovable property, such property shall be vested in
trustees subject to a declaration of trust.
19.2 The trustees of the Society shall:
a) Not be more than ……..and not less than……….. in number.
b) Be elected by a General Meeting of members.
c) Not effect any sale or mortgage of property without the prior approval of the General
Meeting of members.
19.3 The office of the trustee shall be vacated:
a) If the trustee dies or becomes a lunatic or of unsound mind
b) If he/she is absent from Zimbabwe for a period of more than one (1) year.
c) If he/she is guilty of misconduct of such a kind as to render it undesirable that he/she
continues as a trustee.
d) If he/she submits notice of resignation from his/her trusteeship.
19.4 Notice of any proposal to remove a trustee from his/her trusteeship or to appoint a new
trustee to fill a vacancy must be given by publishing in the Society's premises at least
weeks before the General Meeting at which the proposal is to be discussed. The result of
such General Meeting shall then be notified to the Registrar of Societies.
19.5 The address of each immovable property, name of each trustee and any subsequent change
shall be notified to the Registrar of Societies.

ARTICLE 20

20. DISSOLUTION, DISPOSAL OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

20.1 The general meeting shall decide on the dissolution of the society’s assets. A majority of
75% of the total membership is required to give consent to dissolution of the society. Upon
dissolution, the certificate of registration should be returned to the office of Registrar of
Societies for cancellation.
20.2 In the event of the Society being dissolved as provided above, all debts and liabilities legally
incurred on behalf of the Society shall be fully discharged, and the remaining funds shall be
donated to an approved charity organisation(s) registered in Zimbabwe.
20.3 A Certificate of Dissolution shall be given within seven (7) days of the dissolution to the
Registrar of Societies.

ARTICLE 21
 21. AMENDMENT

No alteration or addition/deletion to this Constitution shall be made except at a general

meeting and with the consent of (Percentage/fraction) of the voting members
present at the General Meeting, and they shall not come into force without the prior
sanction of the Registrar of Societies.

ARTICLE 22

22. GENERAL BODY

The general body is empowered to approach the executive committee if necessary and ask
for general meeting where they are entitled to put their deliberations about their
dissatisfaction about the head of the club. The majority’s decision shall be binding, they may
discipline or expel anyone from the club if they so wish, provided that does not in any way
contravene the provision of any law in Zimbabwe.