CO-OPERATIVES IN THE FREE STATE PROVINCE (2)

Abstract

There are clearly commendable objectives for supporting and establishing co-operatives. These include worker control and empowerment, better access to finance, informal learning, and collective marketing. Despite this, the literature consulted pointed to the following:  Earnings can be low or negligible;  Access to supermarkets or non-local markets is a challenge;  Co-operative structures can lead to internal conflict;  Grant dependency can undermine sustainability and delink reward from productivity and quality;  Consideration of suitable support advisors and models that encourages SME to link into higher marketing opportunities would be advantageous;

2 Since the members of a secondary co‐operative are the primary co‐operatives, the 15% maximum vote by a member (a primary co‐operative) in fact requires that a secondary co‐operative should comprise of at least 7 primary co‐operatives. This anomaly was only corrected by The Co‐operatives Amendment Act (Act 6 of 2013). 3 Sources consulted are listed in report 1  User co-operatives should also be considered; and  Alternative enterprise forms may be more suitable than co-operatives in some instances.