GU case postponed to September
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Tuesday April 26, 2016 14:23
Both parties will submit their heads of arguments on September 6. The applicants, led by Molatedi Diole, are represented by Uyapo Ndadi while Lore Morapedi represents the club. The applicants are seeking the court to set aside the proceedings of last year’s annual general meeting (AGM), which saw the new committee being ushered in.
The applicants are of the view that the meeting did not form a quorum as per the club’s constitution and therefore proceedings for that meeting be set aside including the new committee led by chairperson, Rapula Okaile.
Okaile in his responding affidavit however stated that a motion was put before the members to decide whether the meeting should proceed as per articles 13.3.6 and 13.3.7 of the club’s constitution. He said it was not the first time the issue of not forming a quorum arose at the club’s AGMs.
He said in such cases the members made resolutions on whether such meetings should proceed or not. He said in all those circumstances, the members voted in favour of the meetings to proceed. “The applicants, who have been members of the respondent (club) for a long time, are aware of these well established precedent. The general membership overwhelmingly voted in favour of the meeting to proceed,” Okaile said. He said some of the applicants stayed behind after the resolution and participated in the meeting, which they now term unlawful. He added that the applicants now raise the issue of the legality of the meeting after their preferred candidates lost in the election.
Okaile also said if failure to form a quorum rendered the meeting illegal, they did not have to vote as any vote would be worthless. He said the fact that they voted means they recognised that a vote could be taken under those circumstances for the meeting to proceed.
“The application is therefore brought in bad faith by those whose preferred candidates were rejected in an open and democratic election at the respondent’s annual general meeting,” he said. Okaile also said some of the applicants are not genuine members of the club as they only took up membership cards prior to election. In their responding affidavits, the applicants admit voting but only against the AGM proceedings. They said they did not vote on any other motion and that they only remained at the meeting just to observe what was happening. “The application is not in bad faith. At any rate no bad faith has been shown. None of us stood for office bearer elections. If we did, perhaps that assertion would hold,” Diole said. He denied that some applicants are not members of the club as the respondent did not state who among them is not a genuine member.