1. Principals, school governing bodies and IMG managers at education district offices in the Western Cape Province are reminded that the current terms of office of all school governing bodies (SGBs) will expire in 2012. New SGBs will then have to be elected at all public schools. Even if a recently elected governing body has not completed its full three-year term of office, that school must elect a new governing body in 2012.

2. The date for the 2012 round of school governing body elections has yet to be determined by the Heads of Education Departments Committee. A request has been made to the Department of Basic Education to bring forward the SGB elections to March 2012 in order to eliminate some of the difficulties experienced by schools during previous SGB elections. Schools will be informed of the date of the 2012 SGB elections as soon as it has been decided upon.

3. A provincial electoral team, led by Mr Redewan Larney (tel. 021 467 2337), has been constituted to co-ordinate and monitor the election activities of the district and school electoral teams in the Western Cape.

4. Principals are kindly requested to begin preparing for the 2012 SGB elections without delay by setting up school electoral teams consisting of educators and non-educators employed at the school. Parents and learners may also serve on the school electoral team. Principals should promote the elections amongst parents in order to encourage suitable candidates to serve on the SGB.

5. Additional election responsibilities of every principal and school electoral team are as follow:

  • To have an electoral officer, who must be the principal of another school, appointed by the district electoral officer
  • To prepare a voter's roll of all eligible voters in the school, according to the different components of the SGB, and have it available at all SGB election meetings
  • To notify all parents, in writing and no less than 21 days before the date of the election, of the date, voting times and venue for the SGB election
  • To ensure that the SGB election is well advertised by distributing and displaying advocacy literature provided by the WCED and in-house information produced by the school
  • To provide staff to assist the electoral officer where needed
  • To provide parents and staff with information about the responsibilities and duties of an SGB.
6. All public schools are in possession of the legislative measure relating to governing bodies and the amendments published in the Provincial Gazette Extraordinary in 2008. Should there be any further amendments to the measures, schools and other role-players will be provided with that information as early as possible.

7. Principals of public schools will once again be trained as electoral officers, and will be responsible for managing the SGB elections. Training will be conducted by the district electoral officers and further details will be provided to school principals in due course.

8. The election of governing bodies is a huge exercise and the WCED counts on the co-operation of everyone involved to make it a success. Should you require further information, please contact Mr I Morkel at tel. no. 021 467 2768 or Mr R Larney at tel. no. 021 467 2337.


SIGNED: PA VINJEVOLD
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2011:08:29