| (1) | The Agency, in order to achieve its objectives, must— |
| (a) | establish competencies and capabilities in its operations, including the following functional areas: |
| (i) | Financial support services (excluding co-operative banks registered under the Co-operatives Banks Act, 2007 (Act No. 40 of 2007); |
| (ii) | non-financial support; |
| (iii) | education and training; |
| (iv) | support and extension services; |
| (v) | market development; and |
| (vi) | monitoring and evaluation; |
| (b) | through its financial support services— |
| (i) | design financial products to support the needs of co-operatives; |
| (ii) | take responsibility for and implement any financial support programmes transferred to the Agency; |
| (iii) | enter into agreements with other financial institutions and development agencies to establish co-funding and other partnership arrangements for the purposes of making financial support available to co-operatives; and |
| (iv) | enter into agreements with the Co-operative Banks Development Agency and the Reserve Bank to link financing of co-operatives with co-operative banks and other financial co-operatives; |
| (c) | through its education and training— |
| (ii) | enter into agreements with relevant training institutions to provide training to co-operatives; and |
| (iii) | provide technical and management training to co-operatives; |
| (d) | through its support and extension services— |
| (i) | promote and provide business development and other relevant support to co-operatives; |
| (ii) | establish partnerships with community development workers, community development practitioners, community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations and co-operative associations in order to deliver support services to co-operatives; |
| (iii) | assist and establish partnerships with any relevant organ of state to implement information relating to co-operatives and the shared support services centres aimed at providing information services to co-operatives at local level; |
| (iv) | provide mentorship support to co-operatives; and |
| (v) | develop and maintain data on co-operatives in partnership with the registrar, relevant national and provincial departments, municipalities, other interested governmental and non-governmental agencies and other persons; |
| (e) | through its market development— |
| (i) | promote access to export and marketing assistance offered by organs of state, and bilateral and multilateral agreements with other countries that are available to co-operatives; |
| (ii) | link co-operatives to domestic and international markets; |
| (iii) | form collaborative relationships with the South African Bureau of Standards and Proudly South African and other stakeholders to promote quality co-operative products and services; and |
| (iv) | link co-operatives with state and private sector market opportunities; |
| (f) | through its monitoring and evaluation— |
| (i) | conduct research on co-operatives in partnership with higher education institutions; |
| (ii) | monitor and evaluate trends and patterns in the development of co-operatives; |
| (iii) | identify the needs of co-operatives and make recommendations on appropriate support programmes; and |
| (iv) | identify gaps in existing and future support programmes and propose appropriate changes; |
| (g) | report on or investigate its own activities in response to any complaint received by it or where it considers it necessary or desirable for the proper fulfilment of its functions; |
| (h) | consider such recommendations, suggestions and requests concerning co-operatives as it may receive from the Minister; and |
| (i) | conduct or commission such research as it deems fit or as requested by the Minister. |
| (a) | participate in the activities of international bodies whose main purpose is to develop, promote and support co-operatives; |
| (b) | encourage growth of category A primary co-operatives and category B primary co-operatives by providing the necessary advice and support to enable those co-operatives to comply with the auditing and accounting requirements provided for in this Act; |
| (c) | report to the Department, and on any other matter at the request of the Minister; and |
| (d) | where applicable, coordinate with other relevant agencies to promote and support co-operatives. |
[Section 91C inserted by section 66 of Notice No. 558, GG 36729, dated 5 August 2013]
