COPAC Submission to DTI Review of Cooperatives Act, No. 14, of 2005

The Cooperative and Policy Alternative Center (COPAC) welcomes this opportunity to review the national Cooperatives Act 14 of 2005 and to participate in a national consultative process with other stakeholders. Our starting point for engaging this process recognises:

 

(1)  the Cooperatives Act 2005 is generally progressive and takes on board most international principles and values that uphold the distinctive identity of cooperatives;

(2)  research we have been doing and the learning acquired from cooperatives on the ground points to the need to improve on certain important aspects of our regulatory framework for cooperatives;

(3)  improving government regulatory support for cooperatives also necessitates enhancing the overall policy-framework in which Cooperative legislation has to operate.