Company Secretary
Adv. Yolande Lemmer PA and Administrative
Assistant Senior Legal Advisor
Sonette Viljoen Mr. Julian Botha
Legal Advisor
Ms.Marli Smit Legal Admin.Assitant
Ms Karlien Pienaar
Our goals and vision
•To
be the best Governance and Legal Department any NPC can dream to have.
•To
be an integral part of the SAMA “LIVUPP” strategic incentive.
•To
be innovative, supportive, yet steadfast and strong-principled.
•To
lead by example.
•To
strive to achieve perfect equilibrium between human capital, on the one hand,
and the adherence to governance and legal requisites, on the other.
Core business
Governance and Legal supply two main
support functions:
•Corporate governance support (Company Secretary and the
Corporate Governance Assistant / PA)
•Legal services support (Senior Legal Advisor, Legal Advisor
and Administrative Assistant)
•The two “legs” of the Department however operate as each
other’s reciprocal backup in all respects.
Governance
•The Company Secretary’s functions are
encoded into the new Companies Act (Section 88) – the duties so stated form
part and parcel of Yolande and Sonette’s daily tasks.
•Their duties predominantly comprise
support functions to the SAMA Chairman and Board of Directors as well as to
various Board Committees.
•Their functions also include ensuring
that SAMA complies with all relevant legislation and its own Memorandum of
Incorporation, keeping and maintaining official company records, and ensuring
that all minutes are kept in accordance with the Companies Act (i.e. adhering
to good corporate governance as advocated in King III and provided for in the
Companies Act).
•The Company Secretary has to
continually address the structures and governance system within SAMA with
clarity and sincerity.
Legal
•The legal side of the Department are manned by Julian, Marli and
Karlien.
•They provide administrative and legal support to standing and
sub-committees such as
- HRLE,
- EST, and
- SAMAREC.
•They are also responsible for compiling contracts, ensure
adherence to existing contracts, and support to operational functions where
applicable.
•They provide legal advice and support to SAMA members in
respect of legal and human rights queries relating to the medical profession
and practice.
•NB - Legal queries of a general or personal nature e.g. civil
litigation, matrimonial issues and criminal cases fall outside the scope of the
service offered by SAMA.
•They further provide guidance and advice to members on
rulings by organisations
such as the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) and the Council for
Medical Schemes (CMS).
•They
also assist with scanning and interpreting of the health policy and legislative
environments, and ensure that relevant information is transmitted to the Board,
Management, Committees and Branches where applicable.
•They
play an important role in providing advice on the interpretation of existing
and proposed legislation, and draft and prepare submissions on behalf of SAMA
to Parliament, Government Departments and other statutory bodies on proposed
legislation, regulations, policy documents and other legal notices.
SAMA’s Branches
Furthermore, the Governance and Legal Department plays a key
role in the support of the Branches in terms of advice on rules and regulations
they have to adhere to (in conjunction with SAMA’s rules and regulations), the
interpretation of constitutions, election procedures, etc.
Our favourite quote …
“The problems we have today cannot be solved by thinking the
way we thought when we created them”
-Albert Einstein
