Wild Eastern Cape

Purpose

Wild Eastern Cape (WEC) is a private destination marketing organisation established by a collective of Eastern Cape game reserves and lodges. Its purpose is to market the Eastern Cape internationally as a premier safari and coastal destination — building category-level consumer demand that no single property can create alone, and extending average visitor stays across the region.

WEC operates as a shared platform. It does not compete with its members. It exists to grow the market for all of them collectively.

Legal & Banking Structure

WEC currently operates under Indalo, a registered NPO, which serves as the legal and banking home for the organisation. Indalo holds the WEC bank account and provides the formal entity through which member contributions are received and expenditure is authorised.

This is an interim structure. As WEC grows and its financial activity becomes more substantial, the committee will determine when it is appropriate to establish a dedicated legal entity for WEC with its own constitution and banking arrangements. That transition is not anticipated in the near term.

Banking & Payment Authorisation

WEC operates a dual-signatory payment process on FNB:

Membership

WEC currently has 8 contributing entities representing 9 or more individual properties across the Eastern Cape. All members are 5-star, malaria-free, and positioned at the premium-luxury end of the market.

Membership Levels

Financial Contribution

Each contributing entity pays R10,000 per month, pooled into the WEC account held by Indalo. This contribution is equal across all members regardless of property size, revenue, or number of properties within the entity. The total pool is R80,000 per month (8 entities) = R960,000 per year.

The 2-year commitment runs from the date of establishment. Members are expected to honour this commitment in full. Early exit consequences are to be defined in formal member agreements (see §7).

Member Engagement

Each member entity is expected to maintain two points of engagement with WEC:

• Owner or GM level — for governance communications, committee decisions, and strategic matters.
• Sales and Marketing level — for operational matters: content provision, photography submissions, social amplification, and campaign briefings.

Beyond financial contribution, member participation is encouraged but not currently obligatory. The expectation is that members engage in good faith — providing imagery when requested, amplifying WEC content on their own channels, and responding to committee communications in a reasonable timeframe. The committee will formalise these expectations in the member agreement.

Committee

The WEC Committee is the governing body. It provides strategic direction, approves significant expenditure, and makes decisions on behalf of the collective.

Chair

Chris currently acts as Chair by default as the founding lead of WEC. The Chair role has not yet been formally assigned. The committee should formalise this at the earliest opportunity — either confirming Chris in the role or establishing a rotation. The Chair's responsibilities include: leading committee discussions, acting as the public face of WEC where needed, holding final payment release authority (see §2), and representing WEC in external negotiations.

Decision-Making

WEC operates on consensus. The committee discusses matters — typically via email, WhatsApp, or in ad hoc calls — arrives at a recommendation, and moves forward once agreement is reached. There is no formal voting mechanism at this stage.

In practice, this means:

• Decisions are discussed openly among committee members before any commitment is made.
• The Chair (Chris) leads discussions and summarises the consensus position.
• Silence after reasonable notice of a proposed decision is taken as consent.
• Any committee member can raise an objection, which must be resolved before the decision proceeds.

Decision Thresholds

Reporting & Meetings

Monthly Report

The primary governance rhythm is a monthly report distributed to all members (committee and contributing). The report covers:

• Financial summary — contributions received, expenditure by category, closing balance
• Campaign performance — paid media results (impressions, CTR, cost per click to member sites)
• Website performance — sessions, top pages, member click-throughs (once live)
• Social media — reach, engagement, follower growth
• Content — what was produced or published during the month
• Key decisions made and actions outstanding

The report is the primary accountability mechanism for WEC. All members should receive it, review it, and raise questions or concerns through the committee.

Committee Meetings

Committee meetings are currently ad hoc — called when there is a significant decision to make or issue to resolve. There is no fixed meeting cadence. The monthly report is intended to reduce the need for frequent formal meetings by keeping all members informed.

When a meeting is convened, the Chair sets the agenda and distributes it in advance. Decisions made in meetings are documented by the Chair and circulated to all committee members within 5 business days.

Formal Review

A full committee review of WEC's performance is planned for September 2026 (3 months after launch), and then again at the 12-month mark (April 2027) to set Year 2 strategy and budget.

Member Agreements

Formal written agreements between WEC (via Indalo) and each contributing member are yet to be drafted and signed. This is a priority action before the June 2026 website launch. The agreements should cover:

• Financial commitment — amount, payment schedule, duration (2-year term)
• Consequences of non-payment or early exit
• Use of the WEC brand — standards, approval process, what members can and cannot do with WEC brand assets
• Content and photography obligations — what members are expected to provide and by when
• Social amplification expectations — minimum sharing commitments
• Attribution and reporting obligations — UTM tracking cooperation, quarterly data sharing
• Process for admitting new members and its effect on existing contributions
• Exit process — notice period, financial obligations on exit
• Dispute resolution

Membership Changes

Adding New Members

WEC intends to grow its membership base once the organisation has launched and can demonstrate proof of concept. Prospective new members are tracked separately (see Prospects page). New members require full committee consensus before being approached formally. On admission, each new member pays R10,000/month, which increases the total pool. The impact on budget allocation will be reviewed by the committee at the time.

Member Exits

The process for voluntary exit or involuntary removal of a member is yet to be defined by the committee and will be codified in the formal member agreement (§7). Key questions to resolve:

• What notice period is required?
• Are contributions refundable on exit within the 2-year commitment?
• What happens to a member's brand presence on the WEC website on exit?
• What constitutes grounds for involuntary removal, and who decides?

Sibuya Transition

Nick Fox has sold Sibuya Game Reserve and is in the process of phasing out of WEC. The committee should:

• Confirm the timeline for Nick's exit from the committee
• Determine whether Sibuya's new ownership wishes to continue as a WEC member
• If not, confirm whether WEC continues with 7 entities and what this means for the monthly pool
• If a replacement property is to be sought for the Sibuya slot, begin that process

Future Legal Structure

The current arrangement — operating under Indalo's NPO registration with dual-signatory FNB banking — is workable for the start-up phase. It is acknowledged as an interim structure.

As WEC grows and its financial commitments become more substantial (agency contracts, multi-year media spend, potential staffing), it will become appropriate to establish WEC as its own legal entity. This would provide:

• A formal constitution governing WEC's own affairs, independent of Indalo
• WEC's own banking and financial controls
• Clearer liability separation for committee members
• A more credible entity for contracts with agencies, suppliers, and potential funders

This transition is not anticipated in the near term. The committee will revisit at the Year 1 review (April 2027) and determine whether the scale of WEC's activity warrants a formal entity at that stage.

Key Contacts & Roles