1.1 The management of the Society shall be vested in the Central Committee. The Central Committee shall elect amongst them, if necessary, a Management Committee, who shall carry out the day-to-day running of the Society on behalf of the Central Committee and the members.  

1.2 Only members in good standing may serve on the Central Committee.  

1.3 No member will have a claim against the Society in respect of any costs or losses incurred as a result of attending meetings.

2.1 The President of the Society, who shall also be the chairperson of the Central Committee, shall be elected nationally by all individual Society members with voting rights at the annual general meeting described in 7.4.5.  

2.2 The President shall be a knowledgeable person in the field of dendrology.  

2.3 The term of office of the President of the Society will be two years.  

2.4 Call for nominations for President will be circulated by facsimile, e-mail and/ or mail to all members with voting rights. A list of members from which nominations may be selected will be attached to the call for nominations. 

2.5 Members wishing to nominate a person shall obtain the consent of the nominee before forwarding the nomination.  

2.6 Nominations to reach the Management Committee by the due date. 

2.7 All nominees will be requested to forward a CV and a mission statement to the Management Committee to accompany the ballot papers. 

2.8 Ballot papers shall be completed and returned to the Management Committee and should reach their destination two days prior to the election date. Ballot papers may also be handed in at the annual general meeting.  

2.9 Scrutinizers of the ballot papers shall be appointed at the annual general meeting. All ballots will be opened at the appropriate time and the ballots will be counted and checked.  

2.10 The scrutinizers will announce the results of the election at the meeting. Upon acceptance of the results by the members present, all the ballot papers will be destroyed.  

2.11 Management of the Central Committee is empowered to take decisions in respect of nominations and elections if no nominations were received in terms of clauses 7.2.6 & 7.2.8.

3.1 Promotion of dendrological knowledge to its members as a contribution to personal enrichment through outings, lectures, courses, symposia, regional herbaria, collection and dissemination of relevant dendrological information, the web-page and publications.

3.2 Assistance in the advancement of awareness of the South African public and governmental departments in terms of tree knowledge and of the importance of the protection of trees and the preservation of tree-dominated ecosystems as a contribution to sustainable environmental management.

3.3 Assistance to the public in terms of technical services such as tree identification, tree measuring, and other expertise and skills.

3.4 Encouragement of scientific research in the field of dendrology.

3.5 Acknowledgement of excellence in service to the improvement of tree knowledge to South African society.

3.1 General  

3.1.1 The Central Committee shall be elected by all the individual Society members with voting rights at an annual general meeting and shall comprise at least five but no more than nine members, one of whom shall be the nationally elected President of the Society. 

3.1.2 A term of office shall be a period of two years.

3.1.3 The President and any duly elected member of the Central Committee and Management Committee may be re-elected at the end of a two-year term of office. 

3.2 Nominations 

3.2.1 Call for nominations for the Central Committee will be circulated by facsimile, e-mail and/or mail to all members with voting rights. Members wishing to nominate a person shall obtain the consent of the nominee before forwarding the nomination. Nominations must reach the Management Committee by the due date. 

3.2.2 Ballot papers will be circulated to all members and should be completed and returned to the Management Committee and should reach their destination two days prior to the election date. Ballot papers may also be handed in at the annual general meeting. 

3.3 Elections 

3.3.1 Elections for Central Committee members will be held every year at the AGM for those members whose terms of office expire in that particular year. The Honorary Secretary shall record the terms of office of all the elected Central Committee members. 

3.3.2 In the event of less than required nominations being made, the nominees will automatically become members of the new Central Committee. 

3.3 Scrutinizers of the ballot papers shall be appointed at the annual general meeting. All ballots will be opened at the appropriate time and the ballots will be counted and checked. The scrutinizers will announce the results of the election at the meeting. Upon acceptance of the results by the members present, all the ballot papers will be destroyed. 

3.4 Vacancies in the Central Committee 

3.4.1 In the case of resignation, incapacity or death of any member of the Central Committee and the Management Committee, the office shall be declared vacant by the Management Committee. The Management Committee shall request the region from which the member originated to nominate another member to fill the vacancy until the next Annual General meeting. A new member shall be duly elected at the Annual General meeting. The Central Committee will decide who shall fill a vacancy in the Management Committee. For the purpose of this subsection, absence from two meetings of the Central Committee or Management Committee without an apology or from three consecutive meetings of the Central Committee or Management Committee may be treated as incapacity.

4.1 The Central Committee shall convene only when matters need to be dealt with that requires the physical presence of all members of the Central Committee. Central Committee members not serving on the Management Committee may attend any Management Committee meetings when possible and shall nevertheless receive all the agendas and minutes of the meetings of the Management Committee of the Central Committee and shall have the opportunity to add issues to the agenda or to dispute any minutted issue within five days after the dispatch of the minutes. Disputed decisions will be referred back to the Management Committee for further consideration. 

4.2 The Central Committee shall manage the affairs of the Society and take such other steps as may be deemed necessary to achieve its objectives and fulfil the obligations stated in the constitution. The Central Committee may if it deems it necessary appoint an administrative officer to assist the Central Committee and/or the Management Committee in the execution of their management duties. The duly appointed officer shall be fully accountable to the Central Committee for every action he/she undertakes on behalf of the Society. 

4.3 The Central Committee shall have the power to appoint committees to whom they may delegate such duties as they may deem fit to carry out the objectives of the Society. Central Committee members or any Society member may be appointed to such committees. Central Committee members may be ex officio members of all committees. The Central Committee shall also have the power to dissolve any of its committees as it may deem fit. 

4.4 The Central Committee shall designate two persons from the Management Committee who will sign all documentation on behalf of the Society. Signing powers, as decided by the Central Committee, may also be given to the administrative officer to facilitate administration. 

4.5 The Central Committee shall convene an annual general meeting no later than 120 days after the end of the Society’s financial year end to deal with the activities described in 7.2.1, 7.3.1 and 10.7, as well as any other activity that the Central Committee may deem necessary, at a time and place as it may determine. 

4.6 The Management Committee of the Central Committee shall have the right to deal with the issue of nominations and consequential elections in the event of non-performance in terms of clauses 7.2.6, 7.2.8 and 7.3.2.1.

4.7 Extraordinary general meetings shall also be convened at any time by the honorary secretary on receipt of a written request signed by at least seven individual members of the Society with voting rights. Depending on the urgency of the matter notice of such a meeting shall be given as is reasonable in the circumstance, but no later than 45 days after the receipt of the request. 

4.8 The Central Committee may enter into agreements with any body or persons within or outside South Africa with regard to any matter of mutual benefit and in the interest of the objectives of the Society. 

4.9 The Central Committee may enter into any arrangements with any Government authority (central, provincial, regional, local or otherwise), corporation or persons to obtain from such Government authority, corporation or person, monetary grants, rights, treaties, concessions, charters, franchises and privileges which may assist in achieving the Society’s objectives. 

4.10 The Central Committee may associate or affiliate with any organisation which has objectives consonant to that of the Society.

5.1 The Management Committee shall include as many of those Central Committee members as possible, including the President, who will be prepared to attend all Management Committee meetings. The Management Committee will comprise at least a chair who will be the President, an honorary secretary and an honorary treasurer. The Management Committee will be elected on the day of the AGM. 

5.2 The Management Committee may be assisted by an administrative officer, who shall ex officio attend all meetings of the Management Committee. 

5.3 The Management Committee shall meet at least three times per year and arrange more meetings if deemed necessary, to effectively manage the affairs of the Society.

Any member of the Central Committee and Management Committee shall cease to hold office 

6.1 upon resignation given in writing;

6.2 upon cessation of his/her normal voting rights as in 6.3.6

6.3 when absent from meetings of the Central Committee and Management Committee as stipulated in 7.3.4