The Scheme must maintain a banking account with a registered commercial bank. All moneys received must be deposited directly to the credit of such account not later than the business day following the date of receipt thereof and all payments must be made either by electronic transfer, tape exchange or by cheque under the joint signature of not less than two (2) persons duly authorised by the Board.
27. AUDITOR AND AUDIT COMMITTEE
27.1 An Auditor (who must be approved by the Registrar in terms of Section 36 of the Act) must be appointed by resolution at each annual general meeting, to hold office from the conclusion of that meeting to the conclusion of the next annual general meeting;
27.2 The following persons are not eligible to serve as Auditors of the Scheme:
27.2.1 a member of the
Board;
27.2.2 an Employee, officer, or contractor of the
Scheme;
27.2.3 an employee, director, officer or contractor
of the Scheme’s Administrator, or of the holding company,
subsidiary, joint venture or associate of the Administrator;
27.2.4 a person not engaged in public practice as
an Auditor;
27.2.5 a person who is disqualified from acting as
an Auditor in terms of the Companies Act, 1973 (Act No. 61 of 1973);
27.3 Whenever for any reason an Auditor vacates his office prior to the expiration of the period for which he has been appointed, the Board must within thirty (30) days appoint another Auditor to fill the vacancy for the unexpired period;
27.4 If the Members of the Scheme at a general meeting fail to appoint an Auditor required to be appointed in terms of this rule, the Board must within thirty (30) days make such appointment, and if it fails to do so, the Registrar may at any time do so;
27.5 The Auditor of the Scheme at all times has a right of access to the books, records, accounts, documents and other effects of the Scheme, and is entitled to require from the Board and the other officers of the Scheme such information and explanations as he deems necessary for the performance of his duties;
27.6 The Auditor must report to the Members of the Scheme on the accounts examined by him and on the financial statements laid before the Scheme at a general meeting;
27.7 The Board must appoint an audit committee of at least five (5) members of whom at least two (2) must be members of the Board;
27.8 Three (3) members of the audit committee is a quorum at meetings of the audit committee.
28. GENERAL MEETINGS
28.1 Annual General Meeting
28.1.1 The annual general
meeting of Members must be held not later than 30 June of each year;
28.1.2 The notice convening the annual general
meeting must be dispatched to Members at least twenty-one (21) days
before the date of the meeting. The non-receipt of such notice by a
Member does not invalidate the proceedings at such meeting;
28.1.3 The agenda, annual financial statements,
Auditors’ report and annual report must be made available to members
at least twenty-one (21) days before the date of the meeting;
28.1.4 At least fifteen (15) Members of the Scheme
present in person constitute a quorum. If a quorum is not present
after the lapse of thirty (30) minutes from the time fixed for the
commencement of the meeting, the meeting must be postponed to a date
determined by the Board, and Members then present constitute a
quorum;
28.1.5 The financial statements and reports
specified in rule 28.1.2 must be laid before the meeting; and
28.1.6 Notices of motions to be placed before the
annual general meeting must reach the Principal Officer not later
than seven (7) days prior to the date of the meeting.
28.2 Special General Meeting
28.2.1 The Board may call a special general meeting of Members if it is deemed necessary;
28.2.2 On requisition of at least ten (10) percent of Members of the Scheme, the Board must cause a special general meeting to be convened within thirty (30) days of the deposit of their requisition. The requisition must state the objects of the meeting and must be signed by all the requisitionists and deposited at the registered office of the Scheme. Only those matters forming the objects of the meeting may be discussed.
28.2.3 The notice convening the special general meeting, containing the agenda, must be dispatched to Members at least fourteen (14) days before the date of the meeting. The non-receipt of such notice by a Member does not invalidate the proceedings at such a meeting; and
28.2.4 At least thirty (30) Members present in person constitute a quorum. If a quorum is not present at a special general meeting after the lapse of thirty (30) minutes from the time fixed for the commencement of the meeting, the meeting is regarded as cancelled.
29.1 Every Member who is present at a general or special meeting of the Scheme, has the right to vote, or may, subject to this rule, appoint another Member of the Scheme as proxy to attend, speak and vote in his stead;
29.2 The instrument appointing the proxy must be in writing, in a form determined by the Board and must be signed by the Member and the person appointed as the proxy;
29.3 The Chairman must determine whether the voting must be by ballot or by a show of hands. In the event of the votes being equal, the Chairman, if he is a Member, has a casting vote in addition to his deliberative vote.
30.1 Members may lodge their complaints, in writing, to the Scheme. The Scheme shall also communicate, provide and maintain a dedicated telephone number which may be used for dealing with telephonic complaints;
30.2 All complaints received in writing will be responded to by the Scheme in writing within thirty (30) days of receipt thereof;
30.3 In the event that a complaint lodged with the Scheme is not resolved to the satisfaction of the Member, the Member has the right to refer the complaint to the Council for Medical Schemes for adjudication;
30.4 A disputes committee comprising of three (3) members, who may not be members of the Board, employees of the Administrator of the Scheme or officers of the Scheme, but who may be Members of the Scheme, must be appointed by the Board to serve on an ad hoc basis as and when disputes arise. At least one (1) of such members shall be a person with legal expertise. The Board must determine the basis on which the members shall be remunerated during their term of office. All members of the committee will be entitled to the same rate of remuneration;
30.5 A dispute, which may arise between a Member, prospective Member, former Member or a person claiming by virtue of such Member and the Scheme or an officer of the Scheme, must, on request by the member, be referred by the Principal Officer to the disputes committee for adjudication;
30.6 On receipt of a request in terms of this rule, the Principal Officer must convene a meeting of the disputes committee by giving not less than twenty-one (21) days notice in writing to the complainant and all the Members of the disputes committee, stating the date, time and venue of the meeting and particulars of the dispute;
30.7 The disputes committee may determine the procedure to be followed and must advise the parties to the dispute of any such determination at least seven (7) days before the commencement of the hearing;
30.8 The disputes committee shall, unless otherwise agreed between the parties, deliver its ruling and the reasons for that ruling, no later than six (6) weeks after the conclusion of the hearing. The ruling shall be in writing and shall be signed by all members of the disputes committee or, if the decision is not unanimous, by the majority of the disputes committee. In the computation of the six (6) weeks there shall be excluded the second week of December to the second week of January following;
30.9 The parties to any dispute have the right to be heard at the proceedings, either in person or through a representative;
30.10 An aggrieved person has the right to appeal to the Council for Medical Schemes against the decision of the disputes committee. Such appeal must be in the form of an affidavit directed to the Council for Medical Schemes and must reach the Registrar not later than three (3) months after the date on which the decision concerned was made;
30.11 Each party to the dispute is responsible for its own costs.
