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Membership

How do I join?

Simply fill out the appropriate membership application form online.

Full member (annual fee - R500)

Associate member (annual fee R500 - professionals in full-time employ who
also perform freelance duties)

Student member (annual fee - R150)

To become a Full member, you must derive at least half your income as a freelancer (see below).

WHO QUALIFIES FOR MEMBERSHIP?

Membership is open to any freelance media professional in Southern Africa who specialises in the gathering and dissemination of news, information and/or images. Such a person may work in the print, electronic or digital fields, including newspapers, magazines, newsletters, business reports, radio, television and the internet.

They include:

• writers
• photographers
• graphic designers
• illustrators
• translators
• editors or sub-editors
• proof-readers
• researchers
• broadcasters
• project managers
• web designers and content specialists
• DTP experts
• voice-over artists
• scriptwriters
• indexers

Full Membership: Anyone who earns the bulk of their income (i.e.>50%) from freelance media sources is entitled to apply for Full Membership of SAFREA. Such members will have full voting rights and SAFREA media cards.

Student Membership:
Full time or part time students, who are freelancing in the media industry may apply for membership, providing they fulfill the following requirements:

Full Time Student:

• Show proof of one article or photograph published in a non-student publication and one in a student publication
• Provide a reference from either; a practicing media professional, a lecturer, tutor, head of department or SAFREA member, supporting your application. This should be in the context that you are actively seeking to gain freelance work in the media industry.
• Proof of student status and the duration of your course, which should be a minimum of one year.

Part Time Student:

• If working, at least 50% of your income must be from media-related freelance sources. To clarify this: while you may receive the bulk of your income from academic work, such as lecturing, at least 50% of monies generated outside the academic institution must be from freelance sources. For example, studying for a postgraduate degree while employed by a company and doing some freelance work, will not qualify you for SAFREA Student Membership
• You will not be eligible if employed on a full-time basis in a media-related organisation
• Show proof of at least one article or photograph published in a non-student publication
• Provide a reference from a practising media professional recommending that we consider your application. Should it prove difficult to obtain such a recommendation for whatever reason, your membership may be approved subject to a satisfactory interview with a SAFREA Committee member
• Evidence that you are enrolled in a part-time course of a minimum of 1 year's duration.

Each application is considered individually and will be judged according to protocols in use at that time.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP?

Membership of a professional body that addresses topical issues such as rates of pay, terms and conditions

• Belonging to an organisation that creates beneficial relationships between freelancer and their clients, through constructive negotiation, information exchange and agreed protocols
• Online database of members accessible to anyone who could use freelance subcontractors
• Member-only e-group for networking, discussion and sourcing information
• Monthly networking meeting with guest speakers (currently only in certain regions)
• Opportunity for increased work
• Skills upgrades and courses at reduced fees
• Rates, terms and conditions guide
• Immense knowledge base within the membership to call on
• Support from other freelancers
• Professional website that acts as a huge resource of information

WHAT HAPPENS ONCE MEMBERSHIP IS APPROVED?

Once approved, you will receive an approval letter with a short list of SAFREA guidelines which we recommend you keep in a safe place to refer to. You will then be asked for a payment and a digital photograph to be used on your membership card. This same photograph can be uploaded to your website profile.

Once your payment has been received, your membership will be activated. Membership is for 12 months, starting on the day of payment. You will also be notified how to access the following:

E-group: All SAFREA members receive automatic access to the member-only e-group and will be given a password. You can choose to receive daily messages or daily or weekly digest (summary of messages), as this is the way all important information is conveyed to the membership.

Website: You are entitled to a listing in the member directory of http://www.safrea.co.za/ which can be searched by name, area and fields of work. This is searchable by any visitor to the SAFREA website, so you should use it to sell yourself.

A Membership Card will be supplied using the portrait-style photograph you have provided.

Member Search

There are currently 315 active members in the Safrea database. First Name: Last Name: Region: All Botswana Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Lesotho Limpopo Province Malawi Mozambique Mpumalanga Namibia North West Northern Cape Other Swaziland Western Cape Zimbabwe Media: All Advertising Books Consumer magazines Films Internet Newspapers Public relations Radio Television Trade publications Voice artists Genre: All Academic Business/Finance Columnist Consumer issues Culture Education Environment Fiction Financial Food General Health Humanitarian Humour News Politics Profiles Property Science & Technology Sports Television Training Travel Voice artists Wildlife Profession: All Broadcaster Cartographer Copywriter Designer DTP Editor Illustrator Indexers Photographer Photojournalist Powerpoint Project manager Proofreader Publicist Publisher Researcher Script writer Subeditor Trainer Transcriptionist Translator TV/video/film producer Video editor Website developer Writer Writer, copyeditor, proofreader

	Jobs
Senior Economics Writer Region: Gauteng posted on 2 Mar 10   (16 Views) People's Post: Sub editor Region: Cape Peninsula posted on 8 Feb 10   (12 Views) journalists Region: Gauteng posted on 18 Jan 10   (31 Views) Travel Writer Region: Mpumalanga posted on 9 Dec 09   (51 Views) Job Archive

	News
Safrea Recommendation of the Week posted on 8 Feb 10 (146 Views) BBC Academy to train the media industry posted on 21 Jan 10 (203 Views) News Archive

	Events
February Safrea Western Cape Networking Meeting Date : 24 Feb 10 - 24 Feb 10 (142 Views) Essentials of Newspaper Management Date : 15 Mar 10 - 19 Mar 10 (136 Views) FOUR DAY COURSE ON FREELANCING FOR A LIVING Date : 3 Mar 10 - 24 Mar 10 (240 Views) Wits Journalism Courses Date : 5 Feb 09 - (1990 Views) Event Archive