National Fedaration of Tourist Guide Associations

[Chris McDuling]

After a lot of hard work by many individuals and especially by the Gauteng Guides Association and the Cape Tourist Guides Association there is finally a turning point in the re establishment of an umbrella body of guiding associations which will represent all guides at National level and be recognised by government and other Tourism stakeholders.

Follows the invitation sent out by the steering committee for the inaugural National meeting:-

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It is finally coming together, the finalisation of efforts to
establish the National Federation of Tourist Guide Associations.

We have approached the National Department of Tourism for financial
assistance but, unfortunately the budget does not allow it at this
stage. A promise to incorporate the Federation in the new budget has
been made by them.

ALL registered Tourist Guide Associations in
South Africa are invited to attend the Inaugural Meeting to be held on 29 and 30
January 2010 at the Museum Africa, in New Town, Johannesburg.

What is meant by Associations?

We are all aware that because of logistical reasons in many
provinces, a single representative provincial association has little chance to be
properly implemented and to function successfully. There are many
localised associations for example, the Battlefield Association in
KZN, or the Game Rangers in the Timbavati, or the Site Guides at the
Voortrekker Monument or Hector Pietersen Memorial or the Tourist
Guides in the Mopani District of Limpopo and the Cape Town Tourist
Guides Association.

All registered Tourist Guide Associations; either on a provincial
level or local level are therefore invited to send representation to
the Inaugural Meeting of the National Federation of Tourist Guide Associations.

The Gauteng Guides Association will host the Inaugural Meeting, but
because of limited financial resources, will not be able to pay
for transport to Johannesburg. However there is limited
funding for a number of attendees accommodations. So it is important that you
register as soon as possible.

The Agenda for the 29th January 2010 follows. If you want to
address a specific issue, please register your topic on the
registration form provided on the registration web link and you will have the opportunity during the Open Floor period to present it.

Should you have any further queries, please contact Fanie or Johan
at gautengguides@gmail.com

I am looking forward to see you at the Inaugural Meeting.

Kind regards

Fanie Terblanche

Chairperson Gauteng Guides Association and Convener.

Go to this link for Proposed Constitution /amendments for the NFTGA SA
http://www.guidessa.org/?q=node/240

Go to this link for registration
http://www.guidessa.org/?q=node/add/tablemanager/table-11



Proposed Agenda of the Inaugural Conference of the National
Federation of Tourist Guides Associations of South Africa to be held at the Museum Africa in New
Town Johannesburg

Friday, 29 January 2010.

12:00 to 13:00: Arrival and Registration. During this period snacks
will be served.

13:00 to 13:15: Opening, welcome and explanations by Fanie
Terblanche.

13:15 to 13:30: Keynote address by Dr Joe Raputsou, National
Registrar.

13:30 to 15:00: Open Floor. During this period the floor will be open
to discussion on

related topics. To address the meeting you will have to register your

topic. A registration form will be available.

15:00 to 15:15: Coffee and tea. During this period, lobbying for
nominations on the

National Executive Committee of the National Federation can take

place.

15:15 to 15:30: Nominations.

15:30 to 16:00: Compiling the Agenda for the Inaugural Meeting of the
National

Federation of Tourist Guides Associations of South Africa.

16:00 to 16:30: Voting

16:30 Closing.

Saturday, 30 January 2010.

09:00 to 09:15: Registration and welcome.

09:15 to 09:30: Finalising the agenda and determining meeting rules.

09:30 to 10:30: Agenda points

10:30 to 10:45: coffee/tea

10:45 to 13:00: Agenda Points.

13:00 to 13:45: Lunch

13:45 to 15:00: Agenda points

15:00 to 15:30: Summary and closing

Organisers :

Gauteng Guides Association Committee

Contacts

Fanie Terblanche 0828812690

Johan Van Biljon 0836551997

mailto:gautengguides@gmail.com

Click here for registration
http://www.guidessa.org/?q=node/add/tablemanager/table-11

[Chris McDuling]

Madam Chairperson,

Can our members please have comment on our involvement at this very important meeting, how are we being represented and what special interests of our Tourist Guiding niche is being taken to the table.

Chris McD.

[Chris McDuling]

Formation of a National Federation of Tourist Guide Associations

The Cape Tourist Guide Association (CTGA), was involved in the formation of the National Federation of Tourist Guide Associations in March 2005. Pippa Wordie was the main Ambassador for the CTGA during this time. Due to a variety of reasons the Federation was not able to reach its potential and it regressively became dormant.

During 2009 the member associations of this dormant federation voted to dissolve it.  This in effect then created an instance where the guiding community of South Africa was without a governmentally recognised national representative body.

Government has made it perfectly clear that they will not enter into any negotiations with individual associations or even groupings of associations. This made it imperative for the reformation and activation of the national association.
Furthermore there are many instances which make it imperative that guides have a single national representative body such as when the Gauteng Guides Association (GGA) entered a bid to host the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) biennial meeting in South Africa in 2011.  During the congress in 2009, held in Bali, it was made very clear that South Africa must have a national body before such a congress will be held here.

GGA initiated the reformation of the national federation and a reformation conference was held at the Museum Africa in central Johannesburg on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th January 2010.  All contactable provincial associations, professional associations and interested associations were invited to attend this inaugural meeting.

CTGA was represented by Peter Fisher, Chairman of CTGA, Philip Coetzee, Vice-chairman of CTGA and Pippa Wordie previous CTGA ambassador involved with the original association in 2005.

On the Friday it was voted and carried by the associations present that the new federation will be formed.  The association will consist of a National Representative Committee (NRC) from whom the National Executive Committee (NEC) will be elected.  Only associations that have been properly constituted will be allowed to have representation on the NRC.  In effect this means that associations that represent specific interest groups and who are national will each have one representative on the NRC. Associations that just represent guides in general, like CTGA, will have to affiliate with a provincial body.  The provincial body will then be allowed to have a representative on the NRC.

CTGA as the only association in the Western Cape had the right to nominate a Western Cape representative onto the NRC.  Philip Coetzee was nominated for this position.  Other associations that have representation on the NRC are KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Field Guides Association of South Africa (FGASA), Gauteng Italian Guides Association and Chinese Guides Association.  Gauteng Guides association was allowed two representatives since this will give continuity to the association as the two of their members have been instrumental in the success of this initiative.

At a brief meeting of the NRC, five members were elected onto the NEC.  Fanie Terblance was elected Chairman, Johan Botha was elected Treasurer and Philip Coetzee was elected Vice-chairman.  Other Exco members are Ken Gillings from Natal and Yvette Odendaal from Eastern Cape.

The Exco members will serve for a period of one year after which they may be re elected if nominated by their individual regions or associations.

On the Saturday, issues that were listed the previous day were discussed.  A large portion of the morning was dedicated to input into the constitution.  The constitution will be available for circulation to all member associations in due course.

As yet no representative logo is available yet, but this will be discussed soon and a representative logo will be designed for use.

The name has been changed from what was previously the National Federation of Tourist Guide Association of South Africa (NFTGASA) to the Federation of South African Tourist Guide Associations (FSATGA).

Other issues that were discussed, prioritised and members of the NRC were nominated to oversee particular issues.  The main issues were,
The growth of the association and other association involvement and support to the National Federation
The Basic Conditions of Employment (BCOE) and Professionalisation of the industry.
The portfolio of growth and a link with Government became the responsibility of Fanie Terblance and Philip Coetzee was given the role of the BCOE and professional issues. 

Other Exco members also received various portfolios.
Johan Botha took it upon himself to co-opt other members of the association to assist him in tendering a bid to the WFTGA to host the world congress in South Africa in 2013.  This will be done with the aid of the KwaZulu-Natal Guides Association.

The two days of the conference were very positive. All who participated believed it was due to all the associations present wanting to move the federation forward and make it work for us.  The first task now starts with forming a provincial association for the Western Cape and giving our support to the work of the national federation. It is imperative that other existing associations join the national federation to give their members the representation that is their right.

Compiled by Philip Coetzee.

Posted by Chris McD.

[Philip Scott]

As a properly constituted nationally representative body of guides, the 4WDGA is entitled to 1 representative on this new body.

If the members see benefit from this new body, we can investigate further.

Brace yourseloves for the usual questions:

What will it cost each member?
What will we receive in return for our fees? (What can they do for us?)

[Chris McDuling]

The need for membership to the National Federation would be very clear had the general management of the 4WDGA been more involved in mainstream tourism and in the National initiative "Professionalisation of tourist guiding". Currently the Federation and the profesionalisation initiatives go hand in hand.

The Tourism Act which dictates through the law how guides will operate, how they are qualified and in fact every facet of what they do in guiding is being rewritten currently without the input from the 4WDGA. The decisions that get made and the laws that are passed in these structures dictate to NOW how guides will be educated, qualified and governed. It has been stipulated at NOW from the strategy accepted by the Minister that NOW will not be creating new laws but working within existing laws - therefore the 4WDGA, and NOW with respect to guiding, will be dictated to without the input of the 4WDGA.
The goverment has made it very clear that it will only negotiate with one recognised National body of guides, and currently any one of the generalist regional associations outweights the 4WDGA on their own.
Had the management of the Association taken the trouble to be active in any of these tourism associations the benefits of linking with them and belonging to them would be blatantly obvious by what they are achieving.

The 4WDGA does not currently have the capacity, mainstream tourism exposure, or the willpower to represent their members in most regional, provincial or National forums where opportunities are being lost for their members daily and the goodwill of the 4WDGA is being lost. Being part of the National Federation creates an avenue to have the associations members represented on these platforms and gain the benefits from them as well as having the necessary protection through representation where decisions are made that could adversely affect the 4WDGA members.

The duplication of efforts by not belonging to the Federation is totally unnessary and inefficient. The general needs of all guides is the same. These should be handled by the Federation. The sheer weight of numbers of the Federation as apposed to that of a small specialist association makes it possible to have the funds, manpower and willpower to make significant representation. This then allows the specialist associations the freedom to use their resources to concentrate on their specialist niche.

I hope this gives you some idea of why the 4WDGA should belong to the National Federation, but I would hope that the Committees take the call seriously enough to invite representatives, Nationally, and in their respective regions, to address the Associations in a special meeting - soon.

If you do not have the contact details of these representatives please feel free to contact me and I will forward them to you or even set up the appointments if necessary.

Chris McD.