3.       Establishment of Corporation

            (1) There is hereby established a Corporation to be known as the Water Utilities Corporation.

            (2) The Corporation shall be deemed to be a water authority for the purposes of the Waterworks Act, in respect of such waterworks areas as may from time to time be specified by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette.

            (3) The Corporation shall be a body corporate capable of suing and being sued in the name of the Water Utilities Corporation and, subject to the provisions of this Act, of performing such acts as bodies corporate may by law perform.

4.       Constitution

            (1) The Corporation shall consist of a chairman and not less than six nor more than eight other members, who shall be appointed by the Minister.

            (2) A person shall be disqualified from being appointed or being a member of the Corporation-

     (a)     if he is a Member of the National Assembly or is an employee of the Corporation; or

     (b)     if he has been declared bankrupt or insolvent under any law in any country, and has not been discharged, or has made a composition with his creditors and has not paid his debts in full.

5.       Resignation and removal from office

            The chairman and any other member of the Corporation appointed under section 4 may, if not a public servant, resign his office by notice in writing addressed to the Minister, and may be removed from office by the Minister if he-

     (a)     ceases to hold any office by virtue of which he was appointed;

     (b)     becomes of unsound mind;

     (c)     is declared insolvent or bankrupt under any law in force in any country;

     (d)     suspends payment of his debts or compounds with his creditors;

     (e)     is absent from three consecutive meetings of the Corporation without such reason as appears to the Minister to be sufficient;

     (f)      is sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or is convicted of an offence involving dishonesty;

     (g)     is guilty of serious misconduct in relation to his duties as chairman or member of the Corporation; or

     (h)     in the case of a person possessed of professional qualifications, is disqualified or suspended, otherwise than at his own request, from practising his profession in Botswana or in any other country by order of any competent authority made in respect of him personally.

6.       Tenure of office

            (1) A member of the Corporation, other than the chairman, shall hold office for such period, not exceeding four years, as may be specified in the notice appointing him, and on the expiration of such period shall be eligible for reappointment:

            Provided that in appointing members of the Corporation the Minister shall specify such periods of appointment that the periods of appointment of not more than one third of the members shall expire in any one year.

            (2) The chairman of the Corporation shall hold office as chairman for a period of three years, and may be re-appointed for a further period of three years.

            (3) The Corporation shall once in every year elect from among its members a vice-chairman who shall hold office as vice-chairman for a period of one year.

7.       Temporary and alternate members

            (1) Where the Minister is satisfied that the chairman or any other member is incapacitated by illness, absence or other sufficient cause from satisfactorily performing the duties of his office, the Minister may appoint some fit person temporarily to act for the chairman or such other member during such incapacity, and such person shall, while so acting, be deemed to be chairman or a member of the Corporation, as the case may be.

            (2) The Minister may appoint some fit person, being a public servant, as an alternate member to any substantive member who is a public servant, and any such alternate member may attend any meeting of the Corporation which the member to whom he is alternate is unable to attend and when so attending shall be deemed for all purposes to be a member of the Corporation:

            Provided that an alternate member shall not be deemed by virtue of his alternate membership to be chairman or vice-chairman.

8.       Payment of members

            The Corporation shall pay to the members thereof such remuneration, fees and allowances for expenses as may be approved by the Minister.