Gauteng co-operatives get lift-off

27 February 2017

 

Gauteng co-operatives were on Friday February 24 brought up to speed with the provisions of the recently amended Co-operatives Act of 2015 at a workshop jointly organised by the national Department of Small Business Development, the Gauteng Department of Economic Development and the City of Johannesburg’s Economic Development Department.

 

The workshop at Museum Africa in Newtown spoke to the City of Johannesburg’s new 10-point plan, which seeks, among other things, to grow the city’s economy by at least 5% by 2021.

It also served as an enabling platform for the Gauteng Township Economy Revitalisation Programme, a R1-billion Gauteng Provincial Government initiative aimed at taking township businesses to a higher level.

The main objective of the workshop was to equip existing and emerging co-operatives with relevant information pertaining to legislative prescripts. It also capacitated them on governance and management of their businesses.

The Co-operatives Act of 2005 provides for the formation and registration of co-operatives, the establishment of co-operative advisory boards and the winding up of co-operatives. The Co-operatives Amendment Act of 2013 was signed by President Jacob Zuma in August 2013 but its commencement date is still to be gazetted.

Friday’s workshop sought to simplify the amendments that have been effected to the Act. It was split into two sessions. The first focused on the purpose of the amended Co-operatives Act, new co-operatives registration, new primary co-operatives levels and the new co-operatives structure. The second session looked at issues such as co-operative management, voting rights, membership shares and record-keeping.

Tshepo Lebaea, a representative of the Department of Small Business Development who facilitated the workshop, said it was important that the act was disseminated to co-operatives.

“This is the last stage before the act is enacted. Once that has been done, regulations will be circulated nationally and the president will promulgate the regulations and proclaim the act,” said Lebaea.

During a question-and-answer session, many participants said their main concern was that there was no monitoring of co-operatives.

They said in most cases chairpersons treated co-operatives as their own personal fiefdoms. They urged the Department of Small Business Development to arrange training on finances and how they should conduct themselves at all times.