1. The revised Procedures for the Establishment and Election of Governing Bodies at Public Schools Regulations, 2017, as published in Provincial Gazette Extraordinary No. 7810 of 17 August 2017, allows a governing body to apply to the district director, not less than 60 days prior to the date of the election to deviate from the procedure for the nomination and election of parent members. Annexure A contains the form to be used by schools to apply to the district director via their circuit manager.

2. Any deviation applied for must promote the best interests of the school community, allow for the maximum participation of parents who wish to vote, not unfairly discriminate against any potential voter, allow for a fair nomination process in the runup to the elections and ensure that parents are duly informed of the particulars of the candidates.

3. The application from the school must be fully motivated and clearly indicate the date, time and manner in which the school intends to manage the alternative nomination and election processes of the parent members of the governing body.

4. Schools must consider the following minimum guidelines before applying to the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to host a deviation from a single nomination and election day election:
4.1 The appointed electoral officer must have agreed to it and must be available throughout the election process. In this case, the election process refers to the time periods which parents may vote, i.e. one extended period or a series of set periods during the course of the day.
4.2 Sufficient and effective safety and security measures will be in place to ensure that the integrity of the elections is maintained throughout.
4.3 Communication to parents must ensure that they will be sufficiently informed of the nomination and election procedures to be used.

5. For an election held in terms of these regulations to be valid and for nominated candidates to be considered elected, a quorum of parents of at least ten per cent of the total number of parents on the voters’ roll must have voted in the election. It must be noted that even if the number of nominations is equal to the number of parent members on the governing body, a poll must nevertheless be held and a quorum achieved, failing which a follow-up poll must be conducted.

6. A governing body that is not satisfied with the decision of the district director may lodge an appeal with the Head of Department (HoD) within 14 days after receiving the decision of the district director.

7. Please bring the contents of this circular to the attention of all staff and governing body members.


SIGNED: BK SCHREUDER
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2017:10:21

Annexure A  (size: 67 KB)