Whereas the South African government has prioritized the development of co-operatives to contribute towards poverty alleviation and employment creation in all spheres of the economy; and

Whereas the responsibility of promoting the development of co-operatives and collective entrepreneurship cannot be achieved by the Department of Small Business Development alone, but must involve a wide variety of participants from all levels of government as well as the private sector; and

Whereas all departments at national level have a responsibility and duty to actively promote the development of co-operatives through the formulation of sector specific co-operative strategies, support programmes and institutional arrangements for inclusion into a comprehensive system of support properly aligned with the core principles the co-operative development strategy; and

Whereas all provincial and local governments through their various departments and units responsible for economic development have a responsibility and duty to actively promote the development of co-operatives within their spheres of influence through the formulation of provincial co-operative strategies and municipal co-operative implementation plans within their integrated development plans;

Now, therefore, Government has passed the Co-operatives Amendment Act, 2013 (Act 6 of 2013), providing inter alia for the necessary intergovernmental support structures to enable a properly integrated and coordinated approach to achieving these objectives.

The institutions and structures referred to in section 91CC of the Act are in existence, have now been created, or must be created pursuant to the provisions of the Act and their functions are listed in section 91EE. The National Interdepartmental Co-ordinating Committee on Co-operatives must co-ordinate all co-operatives development programmes developed by sectoral national departments

Every institution and structure's administrative and procedural arrangements must comply with this framework for intergovernmental relations on co-operatives.

The Guidelines for Managing Joint Programmes issued under the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act No. 13 of 2005), will apply mutatis mutandis to all participating national departments, provincial governments and local governments and other participating structures in facilitating, co-ordinating in the implementing policy and legislation on co-operatives and must be applied as far as possible.

This Committee has primary responsibility for:—

This Committee has primary responsibility for:—

64.6         Implementation protocols or memoranda of understanding

The various participating national departments, provincial governments and local governments and other participating structures must, when initiating joint programmes enter into implementation protocols or memoranda of understanding scoping the venture and determining—

identifying—

The protocol or memorandum must also—

An intergovernmental structure established as contemplated in the Act, must—

Committees must meet at least once every four months. The date for the meeting must be advised by not less than 14 days' notice. The venue for the meeting and catering expenses will rest with the hosting department or province.

The Department of Small Business Development, unless otherwise indicated, must provide the secretariat to record the salient points/ decisions raised and agreed to at meetings and circulate minutes to members of Committees within 7 days.

Recommendations will be made by consensus by the members of Committees. The Department of Small Business Development may implement the recommendations subject to requisite internal approvals.

Any dispute that may arise as a consequence of the work done by any Committee must be resolved through mutual dialogue.

The strategic outcomes of the committee must be as follows: