| 1) | The Council shall consist of not more than 10 members appointed by the Minister. |
| 2) | The Minister shall appoint as members of the Council – |
| a) | as chairperson, any fit and proper person with a suitable degree of skill and experience in the administration of civil law matters; |
| ii) | an attorney nominated by a representative body or bodies; |
| iii) | at least two but not more than four debt collectors, two of whom shall be appointed after consultation with organisations representing debt collectors, who are natural persons and who have exercised the occupation of debt collector for at least three years; |
| iv) | two persons who, in the Minister's opinion, are fit and proper persons to serve on the Council; and |
| v) | one person from nominations submitted by institutions representing consumer interests and who, in the opinion of the Minister, is a fit and proper person to serve on the Council. |
| 3) | The Council shall from time to time elect from among its members a vice-chairperson, who shall in the absence of the chairperson have all the powers and duties of the chairperson, and if neither the chairperson nor the vice-chairperson is present at a meeting of the Council, the members present shall elect a person from their own ranks to preside at that meeting. |
| a) | A member of the Council, subject to paragraphs (b), (c), (d) and (e), holds office for a term, not exceeding five years, as determined by the Minister at the time of the member’s appointment. |
| b) | The Minister may, on good cause shown, withdraw an appointment of a member at any time. |
| c) | A member of the Council may be re-appointed at the expiry of his or her term of office for one additional term only. |
| d) | A member of the Council appointed in terms of this section who is a member of a committee referred to in section 15(2), must, notwithstanding his or her subsequent vacation of office as a member of the Council, dispose of the matters he or she is seized with and, for that purpose only, is deemed to hold office as a member of the Council in respect of any period during which he or she is necessarily engaged in connection with the disposal of the matters which were not disposed of when he or she vacated office as a member of the Council. |
| e) | A member of the Council referred to in paragraph (d) who, in the opinion of the Council, is – |
| i) | unfit to dispose of the matters in question; or |
| ii) | incapacitated and is not able to dispose of the matters in question due to that incapacity, |
may be exempted by the Council from the provisions of paragraph (d).
[Section 3(4)(a) and (c) substituted by section 3(a) and (b) of the Judicial Matters Amendment Act, 2023, Notice No. 4597, GG50430, dated 3 April 2024]
| 5) | No person shall be appointed as a member of the Council if he or she – |
| a) | is an unrehabilitated insolvent; |
| b) | fails to comply or is not capable of fully complying with a judgment or order, including an order for costs, given against him or her by a court of law in a civil case; |
| c) | in the preceding 10 years has been convicted of an offence of which violence, dishonesty, extortion or intimidation is an element; or |
| d) | does not permanently reside in the Republic. |
| 6) | A member of the Council shall vacate his or her office if he or she – |
| a) | becomes subject to a disqualification contemplated in subsection (5); |
| b) | becomes of unsound mind; |
| c) | in the case of a member appointed in terms of subsection (2)(b)(iii), ceases to be a debt collector; |
| d) | is absent without the leave of the chairperson for more than two consecutive meetings of the Council; or |
| e) | in the case of a member who is a debt collector, has been found guilty in terms of section 15 of improper conduct. |
