A Co-operative Development Policy for South Africa

One of the great challenges facing the South African economy is to increase the number and variety of viable and sustainable economic enterprises. We have a particular history that has brought about many interruptions in the development of enterprises. This has been particularly associated with our racial history and the destruction of wealth in black hands in both the rural and urban areas. This has adverse effects on income distribution, entrepreneurship and employment creation.

Accordingly it is central to government’s economic policy that it promotes the development of emerging economic enterprises and diversifies the ownership, size and geographic location of those enterprises. This policy statement deals with an important variant of economic enterprise, namely co-operatives and outlines the government’s approach to defining the cooperative enterprises as well as the policy instruments that will be utilized to achieve our objectives.

The policy statement deals with the promotion and support of developing/emerging cooperatives enterprises. These include small, medium, micro and survivalist co-operative enterprises. The support measures to grow this sector are clearly outlined in the cooperatives development strategy as an implementation framework. This policy statement should be read in conjunction with those on Small, Medium and Micro-enterprises and the Strategy on Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment.

A viable, dynamic, autonomous, self-reliant and self-sustaining co-operative movement can play a major role in the economic, social and cultural development of South Africa, through effective and efficient services extended by co-operative enterprises to their members. By doing so, co-operatives contribute to the creation of jobs, income generation, resources mobilization, and broad-based economic empowerment, thereby enhancing sustainable human development in South Africa.

A Co-operative Developoment Policy for South Africa 2004.pdf [91.91 KB]