Address by Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, at the National Co-operatives Conference and the International Cooperatives Day, Pretoria Showgrounds

Salutations
Programme director
Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe
President of the International Co-operative Alliance, Mr Ivano Barberini
The Chief Executive Officer of National Economic Development and Labour Council Nedlac, Mr Herbert Mkhize
Honoured guests, friends
Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

Dumelang bagaetsho! It is a great pleasure to join you on this occasion which has brought together stakeholders and advocates of co-operatives development both from South Africa and other parts of the world.

This event is important because all of us gathered here share the collective passion for the empowerment, development and sustainability of poor people through, amongst others co-operatives, due to their importance in group based economic inclusion and the impact they have in enhancing the socio-economic life of all of our ordinary hard working people, especially women.

Conference theme

As we celebrate International Co-operatives Day (ICD), I am sure you have reflected on the theme of the National Co-operatives Conference that started on Monday, which is: "Towards an Integrated Co-operatives Movement in South Africa."

Kopano e erefa sebaka sa go kopantsha dihlogo gore re ka thusa jaang dikgwebo potlana.

This is an important platform to share best practice and I thank you for giving so much time to this work. This means that we need to move towards implementation of the conference resolutions of creating a united and structured sector that is tangibly exposed to various opportunities such as funding, marketing and procurement.

It also means that all inputs made by the brilliant minds gathered here over the past five days from different spectrums such as labour, business, financial institutions, government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are consolidated speedily for we cannot wait any longer for all our cooperatives to reach the necessary level of vibrancy.

I am glad to learn that the Program Implementation Plan (PIP) is premised on three main activities which include:

* self-help group/co-operative mass mobilisation and training
* support institutions transformation and capacity building
* opportunity scoping and product offering alignment.

Urgency of conference

There is an urgency to do this as our women, youth and disabled people cannot wait any longer to become active participants in the process of economic growth.

The realities of unemployment and lack of skills facing our country dictate that we reaffirm co-operatives as one of the viable instruments to fight joblessness and generate lasting income for our people. But we have to make sure that cooperatives generate true economic value that can pull people out of poverty.

I once again urge big business and those developed cooperatives operating in the first economy to help in the advancement and development of those in the second economy. In a country like South Africa the first economy cannot prosper and democracy cannot survive if there are no linkages between the first and the second economy.

Benefits of co-operatives

This noble objective should be pursued in recognition of the central role that cooperatives play in socio-economic development, particularly in alleviating poverty, generating income for the needy and the promotion of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE). That means truly broad, truly empowering.

However, we also need to acknowledge that it is a tough journey for rural women-owned cooperatives to triumph without the necessary support because their success depends on the availability of finance, access to markets as well as institutional and technical capacity building.

It also depends on limited entry barriers by government and less risk averseness by DFI. It means more and non-corrupt officials and genuinely concerned elected representatives.

Co-operatives development and mass mobilisation

In the path of development and transformation of the co-operatives, we also need to counter against the culture of entitlement and on hand outs on their part and link enterprise development with savings.

This means that while we support them financially or non-financially, they must play a role through savings of their profit to ensure continuity and sustainability. It means customer care and sacrifices along the way. Women especially know how to save and they are good borrowers who pay and respect contractual obligations.

I think it is a tragedy in Africa that we have not broken the back of micro finance challenges.

ICA's role in Africa

We wait for the ICA's Regional Assembly for Africa that will be held in November this year in Abuja, Nigeria under the theme: "Revitalising Member Commitment and Involvement for Improved Sustainability of African Co-operatives".

This meeting will be crucial because it will adopt the new four-year strategic plan for Africa. I take this opportunity to congratulate ICA Africa Members, who have joined this organisation and placed themselves as recognised enterprises that will be able to compete in the marketplace.

We applaud the visionary step of countries such as Benin, Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda acquiring the membership of ICA.

We are equally happy that the ICA has honoured our invitation to this celebration and this augurs well for the Department of Trade (DTI) and Industry to align its co-operatives development programme with international co-operative principles and practices.

Conclusion

Let me thank you for choosing to be on the side of the poor. We do not have a choice but to walk the extra mile in our quest to create a better world.

Issued by: The Presidency
5 July 2008