Co-Operatives Act 2005 | Western Cape Government

Co-Operatives Act 2005

No. 832 of 2005
Legislated: 18 August 2005
(The Government of South Africa)

Co-Operatives Act 2005

The purpose of this Act is to:
 

  • Promote the development of sustainable co-operatives that comply with co-operative principles, thereby increasing the number and variety of economic enterprises operating in the formal economy.
  • Encourage persons and groups who subscribe to values of self-reliance and self-help, and who choose to work together in democratically controlled enterprises, to register co-operatives in terms of this Act.
  • Enable such co-operative enterprises to register and acquire a legal status separate from their members.
  • Promote equity and greater participation by black persons, especially those in rural areas, women, persons with disability and youth in the formation of, and management of, co-operatives.
  • Establish a legislative framework that preserves a co-operative as a distinct legal entity.
  • Facilitate the provision of support programmes that target emerging cooperatives, specifically those co-operatives that consist of black persons, women, youth, disabled persons or persons in the rural areas and that promote equity and greater participation by its members.
  • Ensure the design and implementation of the co-operative development support programmes by all the agencies of national departments including but not limited to Khula, NEF, NPI, SEDA, IDC, SAQI, SABS, CSIR, PIC, DBSA, SALGA and SETA's, and compliance with uniform norms and standards prescribed by this Act.
  • Ensure the design and implementation of the co-operative support measures across all spheres of government, including delivery agencies, and adherence to a uniform framework of established norms and standards that reflect fairness, equity, transparency, economy, efficiency, accountability and lawfulness.
  • Facilitate the effective co-ordination and reporting mechanism across all spheres of government through the department.
The content on this page was last updated on 30 April 2014