Wikimedia South Africa/2016-AGM

Wikimedia ZA meeting minutes.

Wikimedia South Africa 2016 Annual General Meeting

12 November 2016, starts at 10:15

Attendance

Physical attendance

Ian Gilfillan
Dumisani Ndubane
Bobby Shabangu
Michael Graaf
Deon Steyn
Raymond Ellis
Andrew Hall
Coenraad Loubser
Douglas Scott
Andy (Wizzy) Rabagliati

Digital attendance

Rossouw (left at 11:00)
Paul Conlin
Gwinyai Masukume (left at 11:15)

Board has quorum

Agenda

Administration issues (done) Banking: setting up a second account for fund from sources other than the Wikimedia Foundation and change current account setup (done) Elect new board: VERY IMPORTANT that all board members, past and newly elected, have with them a certified copy of their ID and proof of address both which are less than 2 months old. (done) Summary of 2016: a year of edit-a-thons (done) Wikimania 2018: should we do it? (done) Simple Annual Grant (done) Future activities? Sign the minutes (very important) WFA update (done)

Vote to accept board directors resignations:

Accepting Pria Chetty's resignation from the Wikimedia ZA board and issuing an offical thank you to Pria for her serivce on the board.
- Douglas proposes
- Dumi seconds
- 10 yeas, 0 nays, and 1 abstention
- resolution passes

Wiki Indaba 2017

Any volunteers to go to Ghana in January 2017 for Wiki Indaba

Andy
Bobby
Dumi
Coenraad

2016 year in review

edit-a-thons and meetups
Wiki From Above 2016
no Wiki Loves Monuments in 2016
WikiCon 2016 and Wikimania 2016

Admin issues

it is a matter of public record that Douglas's spelling is not good. So other attendees are strongly recommended to please check his spelling.
explanation of our banking situation is a mess
Dumi- WMF has requested we reimburse all unspent funds due to accounting issue.
Independent accounting review: more money spent than received, recommendation: hire a bookkeeper / appoint a treasurer
Dumi - agrees with the need to have both a bookkeeper and a board member treasurer

Bookkeeper needs to make payments as the current system is very problematic both in terms of keeping track of expenses and in terms of accountability of expenses.

Coenraad - mentions WAPA uses a private firm to do all the admin and manage bookkeeping for them with a volunteer board to drive the agenda, incl. treasurer to oversee expenditure. Thats a tender that goes up for renewal every year. The Admin Book keeper presents at the AGM every year and attend board meetings. Also take minutes. They use "3 Stones" but some one like them... Question around other chapters and what they spend on admin staff, and what we can realistically justify and expect.

Deon: Imperative that we have a dedicated admin person, considering the number of languages supported; bookkeeping separate outsourced function

- Roussow leaves (11:00)

R10,000 per month budget for Bookkeeper / Admin. Proposal to keep Booking Keeping and Admin functions separately (maybe at R5000 each). It is good practice to keep them separate. Also good to elect a treasurer from the board.

- Bobby: is worried about only hiring a simple admin person as opposed to a Organiser who can be a self starter and run their own events and apply for grants and can keep people accountable. Proposes we consider hiring a Organiser/Coordinator

- Coenraad: typically the board is responsible for that function of organising events and keeping people accountable. Volunteer time is precious so best not waste it on Admin and book keeping.

- Dumi: reiterates Bobby's concerns about only a few people are working on projects. the chapter must keep the foundation's response into considerations.

- Coenraad: suggests a chairman to ensure things are happening. We need projects and champions for each project

- * Gwinyai leaves (11:18)

VOTE: Should we hire a book keeper and Admin people (two separate positions) along with an appointed treasurer from the board? Dependant on WMZA getting funding to hire for this position. Douglas agrees to write the funding proposal to the WMF as part of a simple Annual Program Grant.
- Douglas: proposes
- Coenraad seconds
- 10 ayes, 1 abstention, and 0 nays
- Vote passes

Banking issues

CIPC problems with old directors, one who has lost his ID another is being slow in giving a new certified copy of ID, all documentation from 6 former directors need to be <3 months old. This problem has greatly slowed down our ability to change banking details and setup new accounts. Currently Dumi is exposed to a financial liability as all transactions of the WMZA account goes through his name.

Douglas proposes we vote on setting up a new account for WMF funds and to change the details of our current account (and new account) so that our appointed book keeper can make payments. And so that a notification system of when how much money is in our accounts and how much money is transferred every time a transaction is made. Also proposes a vote to only register a few key people once every 2-3 years with the CIPC to reduce the amount of admin and paperwork when updating our details with the CIPC and doing bank updates/changes.

Coenraad: volunteers to explore supplementary/future cryptocurrency solution: smart contracts & multisig wallet, see if any other chapters are interested and find their stance

VOTE: Proposal to setup a second bank account for WMF funds only and to change the details of our current account (and new account) so that our appointed book keeper can make transactions on both accounts. And so that setup a notification system of when how much money is in each account and the size of the transfer when ever a transfer occures. And to allow the board's treasure and chairperson to be on that notification system.
- Dumi proposes
- Ian seconds
- passes unanimously
- Vote passes
* admin job: update CIPC & open new bank account

VOTE: To press go, again, on getting registered as a Public Benefit Organisation with the South African Revenue Service.
- Dumi proposes
- Douglas seconds
- unanimous vote yes
- Vote passes
* admin job

VOTE: Should we, Wikimeida ZA, pursue a Simple Annual Grant (SAG) from the Wikimedia Founation (WMF) in 2017?
Dumi explains what the SAG (Simple Annual Grant) is and how it works: getting up front grant for events during the year - could be simpler, if we have a better view of the year ahead ;- if SAG is granted, can't apply for >$2k grant later during period. Alternative is APG (Annual project grant) - more reporting & admin overhead.
Coenraad: potential plus point for SAG is more pressure on board to execute on projects if unspent funding remains.
- Ian proposes
- Bobby seconds
- Unanimous vote yes
- Vote passes

Afrikaans Wikipedia 15th Birthday in November 2016

Deon gives an update Milestones:

10 year anniversary: 20k articles
15 year (2016): 40k articles
Just need 508 articles to show growth of 5k articles in a calendar year
Marula Media is paying people to write articles that are reviewed and policed by the volunteer editing community, this is a key driver of growth on the Wikipedia.
Afrikaans community is not interested in outreach like edit-a-thons
Many editors are based outside of South Africa, many South African editors are based in Cape Town.
Few Afrikaans non-fiction books published by publishing houses
Coenraad: Q's - 1) what percentage of viewers understand how Wiki's work? 2) sounds like editathon naming puts people off - but technical aspects highlighted - eg. photo curators, etc. * Coenraad to probe Deon for list of lessons & easy "win" items to drive eg. fixing pay view statistics recently broken
Bobby: More Zulu speaking than Afrikaans speaking South Africans, what can Zulu Wikipedia learn from Afrikaans Wikipedia?
Coenraad: Big awareness issue, can SA Wikipedias handle the kind of influx that more awareness could bring? Recognition certificates, flyers, ads, wikimedia marketing channels, facebook, twitter, meetup.com, and being a positive angle on #Feesmustfall and current political matters in SA public discourse.
Michael: continuing doctorate at UCT for offline Wikipedia in 3 schools: one each English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa
Deon: School engagement story
Suggestion to use Meetup.com
Suggestion that the coordinator/admin person also manage the social media pages and notify people of WMZA events and goings on.

Africa Centre / Wiki Africa issue

There is a lack of clarity about the relationship between WikiAfrica and WMZA, and some concerns raised. We need to remedy this and try to achieve positive engagement. WMZA to approach WikiAfrica about drawing up a Memorandum of Agreement.

Wikimania 2018/19

Suggestion to engage with Debconf16 team to explore UCT as an option General support for Cape Town hosting the event

Organising committee for the event

Douglas
Michael
Ian
Raymond
Dumi
Bobby - tacit
Andy
Coenraad - tacit
Rossouw

See the Wikimania 2018 organising team list here.

Board election for 2016/2017

Old board reappointed Coenraad appointed as a new board member Raymond appointed as a new board member

Douglas re-elected president of the Chapter Tentative Liebe remains if she accepts Dumi is elected treasurer on condition he is not re-elected in 2017 Coenraad elected vice-president of the chapter (new position)

2016/17 board is:

Douglas Scott - president (incumbent)
Ian Gilfillan
Raymond Ellis (new member)
Dumisani Ndubane
Deon Steyn
Bobby Shabangu
Coenraad Loubser (new member)
Liebe Bosch (pending her approval)

Berlin 2016 Wiki Con update

Languages under pressure Tension within the WMF and the appointment of a new CEO

Dumi nominates Douglas to return to Berlin - Douglas accepts, will return in 2017 Ian is nominated to go to Berlin, accepts if he is available. Coenraad is nominated to go if Ian can not go in 2017.

Equipment update

Dumi gives a status report on inventory. 2 laptops bought by WMZA have broke and need to be fixed. Admin task to update the list and keep it up todate.

- Andy leaves (13:43) - Paul leaves (13:53) Thanks guys - connection too bad now to maintain connection. Chat soon.

Dumi proposes that we have one face-to-face meeting before the AGM and more regular board meetings. Ian seconds

14:00 - Meeting ends.