GOSA 2016/17 Annual Report

2016 year in review and way forward for 2017

GOSA has just short of 23 000 members at present. Although the majority of these members have joined us via FaceBook, they are not merely followers/supporters. Each of them has asked to be a member and has been vetted and accepted. Many of these members have responded to our requests for financial and other support on a regular basis. We are justifiably proud of each of these members and value them highly.
In addition to this and in order to enable us to accomplish certain other of our strategic goals we introduced a paid membership model in January of 2016.

After a year this has drawn the following response:

• 417 Silver members
• 112 Gold members (Silver membership benefits + 3rd party liability insurance)
• 300 Diamond members (Silver and Gold membership benefits + legal cover)

Whilst these numbers seem modest they enabled GOSA to accomplish our goal of establishing a first class membership management system, and funded both the Foundation for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) to provide the benefits to the Silver, Gold and Diamond members… plus enabled us to fund a few crucial judicial reviews (two of which resulted in the SAPS/CFR changing their understanding of the competencies required for owning self-loading rifles), and some other matters.

To recap:

• Silver membership offered subsidised access to FDD at R50/m or R500/a.
• Gold membership offered subsidised access to FDD and 3rd party liability cover of R250,000 at R99/m or R990/a.
• Diamond membership offered subsidised access to FDD, 3rd party liability cover of R250,000 and Legal cover of R150,000 at R150/m or R1500/a.
• An option for bailcover of R50,000 was also offered at R49/m.

The subsidised access to the FDD was our most sought after service offering and the FDD handled approximately 1,218 service requests in the last 18 months. These included amongst others general CFR enquiries of which 82% were resolved within 30 days, firearm license motivations which had a 99.18% success rate (our one motivation which was refused, was reversed on appeal), and appeals which had a 88.4% success rate.

GOSA and Gunsure jointly developed the insurance products currently offered to Gold and Diamond members (3rd party liability cover of up to R250,000 and Legal cover of up to R150,000).

Legal cover paid for the single claim event in 2016.

The insurance products have now matured to a stage where Gunsure is offering it as standalone insurance products.

GOSA found that the development and administration of the insurance products and payment collection takes up a lot of its resources and is diluting its gun rights activism work. (Many people are confusing us with an insurance company… that is NOT what we do, primarily.)

The road forward:

Keeping the above in mind GOSA has decided to separate the insurance and bail products from its membership offerings and instead focus on its gun rights activism role. GOSA will continue its partnership with GunSure as our preferred insurance partner. GOSA recommends that any of its Gold or Diamond members take up cover directly with GunSure should they wish to continue with these types of cover after 31 March 2017 (if there is a changeover, it should be seamless and smooth). GOSA will reimburse its annual-paying Gold and Diamond members (including pre-paid bail cover where applicable) for any premiums paid for future months after the 31 March 2017 cover termination date. Naturally GOSA will also assist in any way possible to facilitate the smooth handover of member details.

Just to emphasize. We still believe deeply in the insurance product, and have seen it work to the benefit of our members over the last year. We are merely permitting GunSure to interact directly in future as insurance isn’t really our core focus, and it is theirs!

Strategy/plans/focus areas for 2017

• Build a R2,000,000+ court case fighting fund (we urgently need to start making some emphatic points with CFR, and there’s just no better way than dragging them to court… we’ve tried Mr Niceguy already, it only gets us halfway)
• Convert as many FB members as possible into Ordinary GOSA members
• Market GOSA extensively (bizarrely there are people out there who have never heard of us…). We will now be taking our dog and pony show in the road… traveling to gunshops, shooting ranges and clubs, and associations all over the country to spread the good word.

GOSA membership changes for 2017 in summary

Silver membership stays as is at R500/year (we will entertain requests for monthly payment, but it does tend to make more work for us than it is really worth) which gives:

• Membership certificateSubsidised access to
• FDD according to the attached schedule.
• New for 2017: access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline to take and direct your calls and enquiries.

New proposed Ordinary GOSA membership … at R100 per year

Benefits:

• Membership certificate
• Access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline (as above).

New Corporate membership categories

• Diamond Corporate – R100,000 per year (Large companies > 20 employees but < 50)
  -Membership certificate for company
  -corporate supporter logo for web/social media
  -subsidised access to FDD for company and all employees
  -access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline for company and all employees (as above)

• Gold Corporate – R50,000 per year (medium companies < 20 employees but > 10)
  -Membership certificate for company
  -corporate supporter logo for web/social media
  -subsidised access to FDD for company and all employees
  -access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline for company and all employees (as above)

• Silver Corporate – R10,000 per year (small companies < 10 employees)
  -Membership certificate for company
  -corporate supporter logo for web/social media
  -subsidised access to FDD for company and all employees
  -access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline for company and all employees (as above)

New Club/Association membership

• Diamond Associate- R10,000 per year (Large club/association > 2000 members but < 5000)
  -Membership certificate for club/association
  -corporate supporter logo for web/social media
  -subsidised access to FDD for club/association and all members
  -access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline for company and all employees (as above)

• Gold Associate- R5,000 per year (medium club/association < 2000 members but > 100)
  -Membership certificate for club/association
  -corporate supporter logo for web/social media
  -subsidised access to FDD for club/association and all members
  -access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline for company and all members (as above)

• Silver Associate- R2,000 per year (small club/association < 100 members)
  -Membership certificate for club/association
  -corporate supporter logo for web/social media
  -subsidised access to FDD for club/association and all members
  -access to 24-hour callcentre/helpline for company and all members (as above)

New International membership US$50 per year

• Membership certificate

Foundation for the Defence of Democracy Schedule of prices for GOSA Silver members:

CFR Enquiries & Litigation

1.R500 for up to 3 letters of enquiry to SAPS;
2.Maximum of 6 enquiry letters, where after instructions are taken to bring an application to court to compel CFR to attend to a matter;
3.Court Applications-
We attend to all court applications on a contingency basis and fees are held over until finalization of the matter;

GOSA provides cover for petty disbursements of up to R7000 per application, i.e. for sheriff’s fees, copies of paper, costs of printing, transport costs to issue papers at court, minor attendances by correspondents.

Non-GOSA members, for comparison

Normal hourly tariffs @R2 600 / hour or any part thereof, and all attendances to be billed for, inclusive of all correspondence between attorney and client, counsel’s fees for advice and consultation, communications from CFR, meetings with CFR / SAPS, attendances to Parliamentary Portfolio Committee, etc.

Motivations

1.R1000 per motivation which includes 1 enquiry to CFR in the event that the application is delayed beyond the 90 working day period;
2.All further enquiries into the finalization of the application is as per the normal CFR enquiries tariff above. In order to qualify for this tariff, GOSA membership will be required.

Non-GOSA members, for comparison

Other motivations drawn up by professional teams of lawyers (not Jannie, who used to be a security guard at Spar, and ‘knows’ someone) run to between R2 500 and R7 000. These typically do not include any follow-up at all. The one motivation FDD drew up and which was refused was immediately reversed on appeal… so FDD can boast of a 100% success rate.

Appeals

1.R1000 per appeal, which includes 2 enquiries (one to confirm same was received and registered and a further enquiry after the 66 day period has lapsed and the matter is not finalised) to the Board;
2.All further enquiries into the finalization of the application is as per the normal CFR enquiries tariff above. In order to qualify for this tariff, GOSA membership will be required.

Non-GOSA members, for comparison

Appeals will typically run from R5 000, and we know of instances where the final bill was over R25000.

New membership forms reflecting these changes will be out shortly.

Gun-rights greetings,

Paul Oxley

Chairman of the Steering Committee
Gun Owners South Africa