Sipiwo Grootboom has been operating in the co-operative sector for more than 10 years.
But, he says, he is still facing the same challenges and limited growth.
Grootboom and other cooperative members in Nelson Mandela Bay are now calling on the formal business sector to help close the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
He said co-operatives received regular mentoring but were hardly ever provided with the opportunity to formally exercise the skills learnt.
The corporate sector needed to come on board as part of its corporate social investment mandates, which would stimulate employment opportunities, he said.
“If we are serious about growing and developing the economy, business needs to come on board.
“It cannot be the responsibility of government alone.
“In my understanding, it is government’s responsibility to level the playing field, but the people who are responsible for job creation are businesses.”
Grootboom is part of the Sihlangene Co-op, a hospitality initiative embedded in the department of social development in Port Elizabeth.
He said that while he could not say formal businesses were not making any contribution at all, more needed to be done.
“There is so much potential for the growth of the township economy, but without the necessary skills we will continue to operate from our small corners,” Grootboom said.
“I am not talking about soft skills or financial management – which we get anyway.
“But to succeed, your product has to be of good quality.
“If a corporate asks me to render food services for a yearend function, for example, I must be able to meet their requirements and deliver the product or service to the best of my ability.
“How can I be expected to do so if I am not well skilled?
“The business environment is a dog-eat-dog environment, and to compete you need to be empowered in terms of the necessary skills.”
Pumla Dyafta, who is part of a co-operative called Likusana Lomana, said another issue facing the sector was the lack of initiatives to practically empower women.
“[Among] the challenges we have as a co-operative is that it is hard for us to get jobs.
“We get put on mentoring and incubation programmes but the problem is that they don’t give us work to do.
“The empowerment of women in the co-operative sector is also poor. A lot is being said in words but, practically, not much is being done.”
Dyafta said she had been part of the agricultural co-operative since 2012 and funding remained a primary problem.
“As co-operatives, we have a social responsibility. We produce food and food supplies.
“We grow gardens and sell veggies and make money out of that. We also do catering services and hiring.
“Whatever is left from the garden, we use to sustain our soup kitchen,” she said.
“Social Development only came in to fund the soup kitchen, they didn’t fund the co-operative as such.
“In other words, what we got was for the nonprofit side of the co-operative.
“The government is saying that priority is going to be given to co-operatives but this is not done practically,” she said.
Like Grootboom, Dyafta said that if the corporate sector was willing to assist co-operatives, the fight against poverty would be stronger.
“When you give business to co-operatives, you are feeding and supporting at least five families. You empower five people and you begin closing the gap of poverty.”
Addressing a two-day seminar on the effectiveness of cooperative funding in East London last week, finance MEC Oscar Mabuyane said although there was enough funding to grow and support the sector, “double dipping of resources” needed to come to an end.
“To put it bluntly, we are all over the place. I think our approach to co-operative development has been wrong.
“We have failed to acknowledge that co-ops function in a competitive market environment, and that the state cannot just establish co-ops,” he said.
Nomadelo Sauli, of the Cooperative Banks Development Agency, said the government should channel co-operative development funds through the agency, as a 100% community-owned institution.
“This way co-operatives and SMMEs can have access to capital to start or expand their initiatives.”
Catering co-operative mentor in the Bay, Tembekile Tyatyantsi, who was appointed by the National Development Agency, said co-operatives needed to put up a united front to combat their collective challenges, or they would continue to suffer.
Tyatyantsi said silo-like initiatives would ensure that cooperatives struggled to compete in an open market system.