Online Reporter
Remember Deketeke
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa is tomorrow expected to launch the reviewed National Co-operatives Act, a milestone that will strengthen the co-operative movement, improve regulation and enhance access to economic opportunities for millions of Zimbabweans.
In an interview, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the legal reforms on the law governing cooperatives were meant to respond to the evolving sector since 2017, when the last review was made. This comes as the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa continue to register milestones in different economic sectors in line with its mantra of leaving no place and no one behind.
The event will happen during the inaugural launch of the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Cooperatives Indaba.
The high-level forum is expected to bring together the Government, financial institutions, the private sector, development partners, cooperatives and entrepreneurs to explore ways of enhancing the sector’s role in the country’s economic transformation agenda.
The two-day indaba will be held under the theme: “Towards Vision 2030: Building an Enabling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives Ecosystem”.
“We have been working hard. We cannot continue with what we spoke about in 2017 when we are now in 2026,” she said.
“The review, by the way, was not done by just the ministry or Government alone. There was a lot of consultation which went on, and what came out of those consultations is what we have now brought into the National Co-operatives Act.”
The launch comes after the formulation and Cabinet approval of the National Cooperative Development Policy in December 2025. “Cooperatives now operate across virtually every productive sector of the economy, making it essential that the legal framework evolves alongside them,” she said.
“The existing Act has not kept pace with these developments and remains misaligned with several priorities contained in the National Cooperative Societies Development Policy, particularly in areas such as financial management, digitalisation and cooperative marketing and trade.”
The review, said Minister Mutsvangwa, seeks to modernise the legal framework, eliminate outdated provisions and create conditions that will allow cooperatives to realise their full potential as engines of inclusive and sustainable economic development.
The ministry, she added, is also working towards a dedicated legal framework for savings and credit cooperatives.
The policy reviews the previous 2005 Cooperative Policy and seeks to rebrand cooperative societies by making them instrumental in innovation, industrialisation, empowerment and wealth creation. The policy further provides an enabling regulatory framework that aims to entrench good governance, financial inclusion, as well as transparency and accountability in the management of cooperative societies, unlike in the past.
The new policy aligns the cooperative sector with national development strategies, financial inclusion initiatives, artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalisation.
Minister Mutsvangwa said that some co-operatives, particularly in the housing sector, had experienced challenges in the past, but said the revised legislation would reinforce accountability and improve governance.
“No one can just start a co-operative without a constitution and start working. They must have a constitution and then come here to get registered.”
There are approximately 10 802 registered cooperative societies with an estimated three million members operating across key sectors of the economy, including housing, agriculture, savings and credit, fisheries, manufacturing, mining, transport, retail, arts and culture, as well as services such as education, health, security, ICT (information and communication technology) and waste management.
Of these, 3 812 are housing cooperatives, 1 380 are savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOs), 961 are agricultural cooperatives, 924 are in manufacturing, 860 are fisheries cooperatives, 990 are multi-purpose cooperatives, while the remaining 1 875 operate in other sectors, including transport, mining and services.
Minister Mutsvangwa said the reviewed Act would also improve confidence in co-operatives among financial institutions, making it easier for them to access financing.
“We want to make sure that financial institutions give co-operatives due respect, knowing that they are playing a very important role in the economy,” she said.
Minister Mutsvangwa added that Zimbabwe is drawing lessons from successful co-operative models elsewhere on the continent, including Kenya. “As a country, we always want to learn from others as we work to improve support to our co-operatives,” she said.
