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Non-Profit Organisations Act, 1997 (Act No. 71 of 1997)

Chapter 3A. Office-Bearers of Nonprofit Organisations

25A. Disqualification and removal of office-bearers

 

(1) A person is disqualified from being an office-bearer of a

registered nonprofit organisation if the person—

(a) is an unrehabilitated insolvent;
(b) has been prohibited by a court to be a director of a company, or has been declared by a court to be delinquent in terms of section 162 of the Companies Act, 2008 (Act No. 71 of 2008), or section 47 of the Close Corporations Act, 1984 (Act No. 69 of 1984);
(c) is prohibited in terms of any law to be a director of a company;
(d) has been removed from an office of trust, on the grounds of misconduct involving dishonesty;
(e) has been convicted, in the Republic or elsewhere, and imprisoned without the option of a fine, or fined more than the amount prescribed in terms of section 69 of the Companies Act, 2008, for theft, fraud, forgery, perjury or an offence—
(i) involving fraud, misrepresentation or dishonesty, or money laundering, terrorist financing or proliferation financing activities as those terms are defined in section 1(1) of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (Act No. 38 of 2001);
(ii) in connection with the promotion, formation or management of a company, or in connection with any act contemplated in section 69(2) or (5) of the Companies Act, 2008; or
(iii) under this Act, the Companies Act, 2008, the Insolvency Act, 1936 (Act No. 24 of 1936), the Close Corporations Act, 1984, the Competition Act, 1998 (Act No. 89 of 1998), the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001, the Financial Markets Act, 2012 (Act No. 19 of 2012), Chapter 2 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 (Act No. 12 of 2004), the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act, 2004 (Act No. 33 of 2004), or the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (Act No. 28 of 2011); or
(f) is subject to a resolution adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations when acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, providing for financial sanctions which entail the identification of persons or entities against whom member states of the United Nations must take the actions specified in the resolution contemplated in that subsection; or
(g) is an unemancipated minor, or is under a similar legal disability.

 

(2) A person who is disqualified, as set out in this section, may not—
(a) be appointed or elected as an office-bearer of a registered nonprofit organisation, or consent to being appointed or elected as an officebearer; or
(b) act as an office-bearer of a registered nonprofit organisation.

 

(3) A disqualification in terms of subsection (1)(d) or (e) ends at the later of—
(a) five years after the date of removal from office, or the completion of the sentence imposed for the relevant offence, as the case may be; or
(b) one or more extensions, as determined by a court from time to time, on application by the Directorate in terms of subsection (4).

 

(4) A disqualification in terms of subsection (1)(f) ends when the Security Council of the United Nations takes a decision to no longer apply that resolution to a person contemplated in that subsection.

 

(5) At any time before the expiry of a person’s disqualification in terms of subsection (1)(d) or (e)—
(a) the Directorate may apply to a court for an extension contemplated in subsection (3)(b); and
(b) the court may extend the disqualification for no more than five years at a time, if the court is satisfied that an extension is necessary to protect the public,

having regard to the conduct of the disqualified person up to the time of the application.

 

(6) A court may exempt a person from the application of any provision of subsection (1)(a), (c) or (e).

 

(7) The Registrar of the Court must, upon—
(a) the issue of a sequestration order;
(b) the issue of an order for the removal of a person from any office of trust on the grounds of misconduct involving dishonesty; or
(c) a conviction for an offence referred to in subsection (1)(e),

send a copy of the relevant order or particulars of the conviction, as the case may be, to the Directorate.

 

(8) The Directorate must notify each registered nonprofit organisation which has an office-bearer to whom the order or conviction relates, of the order or conviction.

 

(9)

(a) The Directorate must establish and maintain in the prescribed manner a public register of persons who are disqualified from serving as an office-bearer, in terms of an order of a court pursuant to this Act or any other law.
(b) The prescribed requirements referred to paragraph (a) must be prescribed after consultation with the Minister of Finance and the Financial Intelligence Centre, established by section 2 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (Act No. 38 of 2001).

 

(10) A registered nonprofit organisation may not knowingly permit a disqualified person to serve or act as an office-bearer.

 

(11) A person who becomes ineligible or disqualified while serving as an office-bearer of a registered nonprofit organisation ceases to be entitled to continue to act as an office-bearer immediately.

 

(12) An office-bearer of a registered nonprofit organisation may at any time be removed from office by the director if—
(a) the person becomes disqualified to be an office-bearer in terms of subsection (1);
(b) the office-bearer’s estate is sequestrated or liquidated or placed under judicial management; or
(c) the office-bearer fails to perform satisfactorily any duty imposed upon the office-bearer by or under this Act or to comply with the requirements of this Act or any lawful request of the director.

 

[Section 25A inserted by section 15 of the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 22 of 2022), GG47802, dated 29 December 2022 - effective 1 April 2023 per Proclamation Notice 109(b)(i), GG47805, dated 31 December 2022]