South Africans are encouraged to establish co-operatives in various business sectors to contribute to the fight against unemployment and deepen inclusive economic growth.
On Wednesday morning, the Department of Small Business Development briefed members of the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development on the support that the department is offering to co-operatives, thereby highlighting the need for more co-operatives to create much-needed jobs.
Section 1(h) of the Co-operatives Act 6 of 2013 defines a co-operative as an autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic and social or cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise organised and operated on cooperative principles.
The act outlines four different types of co-operatives, namely primary, secondary, tertiary and national apex co-operatives. A primary co-operative is made up of five natural persons or two juristic persons or a combination of any five persons with the objective of providing employment or services to its members and to facilitate community development. A secondary co-operative is made up of two or more operational primary co-operatives. A tertiary co-operative is made up of two or more operational secondary co-operatives with the objective of advocating and engaging organs of state, private sector and stakeholders on behalf of its members. A national apex co-operative is made up of three operational tertiary co-operatives that operate nationally or five operational multi-sectoral tertiary co-operatives that operate on a provincial, district or local level.
The department told the committee there are 191 520 primary, secondary and tertiary co-operatives registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission. There are no apex co-operatives.
The department is offering funding to co-operatives under the three categories, namely startup primary co-operatives, which is limited to R1,5 million per application; primary co-operatives, which is limited to R2,5 million per application; and secondary, tertiary and national apex co-operatives, which is limited to R5 million per application.
The Director-General, Ms Thulisile Manzini, said that the department has funded 148 co-operatives across the country to the tune of R140.5 million in the 2023/24 financial year. She further said that funding decreased to R46.1 million spread across 49 co-operatives in the 2024/25 financial year.
Moreover, Ms Manzini said: “We also provided R10.8 million in funding to seven cooperative finance institutions, which created 1 350 jobs across five provinces in the 2024/25 financial year. The provinces are Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Western Cape.”
The latest quarterly labour force survey released in May by the Stats SA revealed that the number of unemployed in South Africa grew by 237 000 to 8,2 million in the first quarter of 2025, signaling an urgent need for an urgent and collaborative intervention between government, business and civil society.
Justice Molafo
17 July 2025
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