The cooperative landscape in South Africa: Analyzing critical issues

Cooperatives in South Africa should fit into a developmental context to respond especially to the realities of the country’s second economy, characterized by unemployment and socioeconomic inequities. Generally, cooperatives oversee their members, who share common socioeconomic interests. In South Africa, cooperatives experience historical, ideological, organizational, and operational challenges, partly due to lack of governmental support. The result is their early death or stunted growth. This paper, incorporating a theoretical model of cooperative capital creation, concludes that South African cooperatives must still advance and bridge social capital, considered an important milestone for the development of cooperatives.