Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
of The South African Chapter of the Internet Society
held at the Sentech premises, 8 Octave Street, Radiokop, Honeydew
on Wednesday, 1 November 2000 at 17:00

Present:

William Stucke (Chairman)  ZAnet Internet Services
Calvin Browne UniForum (SA)
Andre Bruton  Key-Internet
Anriette Esterhuysen   APC
Mark Elkins   Posix Systems
Rodney Jones   Mintek
Theo Kramer   UniForum (SA)
Mike Lawrie   Uninet
Norma Laburn   University of the Witwatersrand
Stewart McIntosh   WEB Online
Ryk Meiring   Moss-Morris Inc. Attorneys
Gavin Rembach   ZAnet Internet Services
Carl Sevart   WEB Online
Mike Silber   Aurica
Byron Sorgdrager   Posix Systems
Rosi Stevenson   UUNET (SA)
Victor Wilson   Telkom (SA)
Angelo Roussos   Sentech

Proxies received:

Paul Nash
Lynne Butler
Lawrence Stucke
Beaunard Grobler
Stavros Poullouras
Dino Smit

With:

Ant Brooks - Future Foundation
Elaine Zinn - Future Foundation

1.Welcome and Apologies

The Chairman, Mr. William Stucke, thanked Mr. Michael Silber for the excellent presentation on the Drafting Committee's work and the current state of DNS in SA which preceded the AGM. He then opened the meeting and welcomed a quorum of members. He extended his thanks to Mr. Angelo Roussos from Sentech for hosting the meeting.

The following apologies for absence were received:

Stavros Poullouras
Alan Barrett
Lynne Butler
Daniel Chalef
Sharon Kramer
Alan Levin
Steven Marquard
Paul Nash
Dino Smit
Lawrence Stucke
Tex van Deventer

2. Chairman's Report

____________________

(Contained in the handout pack - available on request).

The Chairman read and tabled his report.

Proposed: Michael Silber
Seconded: Calvin Browne

3. Treasurer's Report

(Contained in the handout pack - available on request).

Mr. Mike Lawrie tabled the Treasurers report.

Proposed: Victor Wilson
Seconded: Theo Kramer

4. Results of the ISOC-ZA Survey

(Contained in the handout pack - available on request).

Mr. A Brooks tabled the results of the ISOC-ZA Survey.

A question from the floor followed regarding clarification on the training issue.

Ms R Stevenson advised that ISOC-ZA had been approached with regard to offering basic Internet skills to under privileged communities. Ms A Esterhuysen said that a number of organisations offered basic skills programmes and ISOC-ZA may wish to participate in one or more of these initiatives i.e. information literacy course offered by SANGONeT; Wits Business School courses; SchoolNet programmes etc. Ms Esterhuysen advised that there was a real need for skills training in South Africa. It was however a large task to undertake without the proper resources.

5. Future of ISOC-ZA

The Chairman informed members that two options existed:

1. ISOC-ZA could approach a body such as Soros for sponsorship or

2. Close down.

A discussion ensued and members present AGREED that ISOC-ZA should:

The Chairman advised that the Committee had discussed the formation of working groups to address specific issues. If members indicated their support for one or more of these groups, then that particular group/s would be established. Members would be tasked with defining the focus of their particular working group. It was however important to identify strong leaders to ensure that the groups were proactive.

The Chairman proposed the following:

The following question was raised:

"Was the Society for professionals involved in the Internet or for the Internet end user?"

The Chairman replied that anyone with any interest in the Internet could join ISOC-ZA.

Mr M Lawrie said that there was no reason why the Society should not play a professional role in consumer and/or privacy issues.

Ms Esterhuysen stated that while it was difficult to recruit members with little to offer, ISOC-ZA should not be concerned about who joined - people in the industry or end users. The Chapter should rather focus on ISOC's core mission i.e. to extend Internet access and promote the Internet in an open and equal way. The focus would change depending on the importance of an issue at a particular time.

The following minimum objectives were proposed for the first 6 months of Y2001:

1. Finalise the DNS Drafting Committee process
2. Host a social event
3. Run an E-Commerce conference

It was FURTHER AGREED that: 
*The new Committee should comprise members who were interested in championing a particular Working Group. If necessary, additional members could be co-opted to assist with achieving certain goals within these groups.

*The new Committee should proceed with realising the minimum objectives as tabled above.

*The new Committee should give consideration to the following:
- Online newsletter.
- Ensuring communication with the membership base by
advertising activities on a regular basis.
- Staffing a consumer body if the necessary funds
could be raised.

The following additional areas of interest were identified:

- Membership
- Training
- Conference
- Social event

Members were requested to indicate their interest preference on the forms distributed at the start of the meeting.

6. Election of the ISOC-ZA Committee

The Chairman thanked the Committee members for their hard work and effort over the past year. It was NOTED that the following Committee members had indicated that they would not be willing to stand for re-election:

Mike Lawrie
Norma Laburn
Paul Nash

Members NOTED FURTHER that ISOC-ZA Committee members were nominated and elected to specific portfolios:

Chairman
Vice-Chairman
Past-Chairman
Treasurer
Membership/Public Relations
Education
Logistics

Chairman

Mr. Lawrie took the chair. He called for nominations for Chairman.

Mr. William Stucke was unanimously nominated and elected Chairman for the ensuing year. Congratulations were extended to Mr. Stucke and he took the chair.

Vice-Chairman

The Chairman called for nominations for Vice-Chairman.

The following nominations were received:

Mike Silber
Victor Wilson

Mr. Silber declined the nomination.

Mr. Victor Wilson was duly elected Vice-Chairman.

Treasurer

The Chairman called for nominations for Treasurer.

The following nominations were received:

Calvin Browne
Anriette Esterhuysen

Mr. Browne declined the nomination.
Ms Anriette Esterhuysen was duly elected Treasurer.

Secretary

The Chairman called for nominations for Secretary.

Ms Rosi Stevenson was unanimously nominated and elected Secretary.

Membership/PR

The Chairman called for nominations for the membership/PR portfolio.

Mr. Ryk Meiring was unanimously nominated and elected to the membership/PR portfolio.

Education

The Chairman nominated Ms Lynne Butler, in her absence, to the Education portfolio. No objections were tabled and he AGREED to advise her accordingly. Members NOTED that Ms Butler had indicated her willingness to serve on the Committee.

Logistics

No nominations were received.

Messrs Michael Silber and Calvin Browne offered to assist with the activities related to this portfolio.

Past-Chairman

The Chairman called for nominations to fill the position of Past-Chairman.

Mr. Angelo Roussos was unanimously nominated and elected to this position.

7. First Meeting of the New Committee (date to be determined)

Post-meeting Note

The new Committee met briefly after the Annual General Meeting to decide on a date for the next meeting. It was AGREED that the meeting would be held on 14 December 2000 at 18:00 at ZAnet's premises.

8. Any Other Business

8.1 DNS Drafting Committee Process

Mr. V Wilson, Chairman of the Drafting Committee, suggested that ISOC-ZA should proceed with implementing the recommendations of the DC. It was NOTED that the DC had been unable to meet with the Department of Communications over the past several months to work on a common approach and further waiting would not achieve any results.

The following was AGREED: THAT ISOC-ZA noting:

RESOLVED to proceed with implementing the recommendations of the Drafting Committee.

Mr Wilson said that this process would not be easy, but a huge amount of intellectual capital had been invested in the outputs of the DC. He said that this was an appropriate time to thank all who had contributed to the work of the DC and advised that some of the members would be called on to work on the implementation. The continued advice and contributions of all would be welcomed.

The above resolution would be published on the web site.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 17:45