Online Reporter
Cooperatives have become an integral part of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic landscape, empowering millions of people through housing, agriculture, savings and credit, manufacturing, mining and other productive sectors. As the Government moves to modernise the sector through legislative reforms, improved governance and a new National Cooperative Societies Development Policy, there is also focus on strengthening accountability and ensuring cooperatives remain sustainable drivers of inclusive economic growth. Zimpapers’ Senior Reporter ZVAMAIDA MURWIRA last week sat down with Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister MONICA MUTSVANGWA to get insights on reforms shaping Zimbabwe’s cooperative movement and the future of the sector.
***************
Q: We understand that the ministry is carrying out some audits of housing cooperatives and, in some instances, directing that AGMs (annual general meetings) be held, resulting in new executives being elected. Is it true? And, if so, may you kindly give us progress in that regard and the objective of the current activities on housing cooperatives?
A: First and foremost, the ministry is mandated to implement the provisions of the Cooperative Societies Act (Chapter 24:05). This Act provides for the formation, registration, regulation, management, functioning and dissolution of cooperative societies in accordance with cooperative principles, Government policy and the philosophy of self-reliance, among other objectives.
The ministry is actively promoting good governance and encouraging cooperative societies to strictly adhere to cooperative principles, values and ethics by ordering audits and regular meetings.
To this end, we are enforcing Section 35 of the Act, which explicitly requires every society to have its books audited once every financial year.
These audits enhance transparency and accountability in the management of cooperative assets, funds, shares and subscriptions.
Ultimately, they foster effective member participation in decision-making processes and strengthen the overall integrity and functionality of the cooperative system.
Over the past 12 months, a total of 361 cooperatives have completed their audits and subsequently held their annual general meetings.
Furthermore, we are encouraging the regular holding of statutory meetings alongside these audits.
This dual approach is vital to restoring member confidence, reducing leadership disputes and accelerating the delivery of safe, legal and sustainable housing.
Auditing provides verified facts and figures, while meetings provide the essential forum for accountability.
In housing cooperatives specifically, the primary objective of an audit is to protect members’ financial contributions, including subscriptions, land-purchase pools and construction funds. Audits ensure that member funds are utilised solely for intended housing development projects and are not misappropriated.
They also verify that books of accounts accurately track all income, expenditure, assets and liabilities, thereby providing an independent and unbiased view of the cooperative’s true financial position. They ensure compliance with the Cooperative Societies Act and internal bylaws, protecting societies from legal penalties or possible deregistration, while also exposing weaknesses in internal controls, systematic errors or fraudulent activities before they result in significant losses.
Regular meetings, whether AGMs or special general meetings, return power to the general membership and guarantee democratic governance. Cooperatives operate on the foundational principle of one member, one vote. These meetings, therefore, provide members with the opportunity to exercise their democratic rights, elect competent management committees, vote on key resolutions and collectively approve major capital development projects.
Q: We have also heard some concerns that housing cooperatives were now seeking to administer housing schemes currently running and some of the schemes are being administered by land developers. Areas where such reports have emerged include Harare South; in particular Saturday Retreat (Ushewokunze area), where CFI is administering residential schemes as it effects its deed of agreement signed with the Government in lieu of compensation for its land acquired for urban expansion. What is the ministry’s position and do housing cooperatives have a role in that regard?
A: Housing cooperatives are legal entities registered under the Cooperative Societies Act (Chapter 24:05) through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development. While the ministry maintains statutory oversight over the governance and administrative functioning of these cooperatives, the acquisition of land falls under a different jurisdiction. Housing cooperatives either purchase land independently or are allocated land by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, as well as by various local authorities.
A significant challenge arises when private landowners establish independent housing schemes for land development purposes. These schemes largely operate outside the regulatory framework of the Cooperative Societies Act, often resulting in institutional weaknesses, abuse of organisational assets, financial mismanagement and corruption within their leadership structures.
To mitigate these risks and strengthen governance, the ministry actively encourages primary housing cooperatives to amalgamate into cooperative housing unions, over which it exercises administrative oversight and regulatory authority.
It is also a strict legal position that a properly registered housing cooperative cannot be arbitrarily converted into an unregulated private housing scheme.
Q: What is the ministry’s general position with regard to housing cooperatives administering housing schemes given that they were at some point, in or around 2014, stopped from doing so by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works? What specific role, if any, do they have on residential housing schemes?
A: In 2014, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works sought to mandate its parastatal, the Urban Development Corporation (UDCORP), to develop all urban land occupied by housing cooperatives. Consequently, housing cooperatives were directed to channel their development payments directly to UDCORP and the direct allocation of State land to individual housing cooperatives was halted.
Currently, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works is implementing regularisation programmes to formalise and sanitise specific settlements that emerged during and after that transitional period.
Q: What capacity-building programme has the ministry been carrying out for housing cooperatives and how have they helped members, particularly in ensuring the orderly and efficient discharge of their duties?
A: The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development carries out various capacity-building programmes targeting both general members and management committees of housing cooperatives.
This training is structured into distinct pre- and post-registration modules to adequately equip those responsible for managing the affairs of these societies.
Following the formulation and Cabinet approval of the National Cooperative Development Policy in December 2025, this capacity building became mandatory.
The ongoing training and intervention initiatives are designed to eliminate governance deficits and restore public confidence. They cover conflict resolution and democratic governance, equipping leaders with the skills to resolve internal disputes, manage member grievances and clearly understand the limits of their responsibilities.
They also include bylaw vetting and compliance training, enabling committees to draft, review and comply with legal bylaws while ensuring that local resolutions align with national cooperative laws.
The programmes further emphasise accountability by preparing cooperatives for statutory audits and the holding of regular AGMs, where transparent financial reports are presented to members.
Treasurers and secretariats receive training in bookkeeping and financial reporting, including proper asset management, accurate recording of subscriptions and prevention of mixing of personal and organisational funds. In addition, cooperative leaders are trained in digital database management to improve transparency in member registers, accurately track contributions and minimise the risk of double allocation of stands.
The ministry also promotes international benchmarking by exposing cooperative leaders to successful regional models that demonstrate how housing cooperatives can become autonomous, resilient and professionally managed institutions.
Q: Is there any other pertinent information regarding housing cooperatives or the role of cooperatives in general?
A: Across Africa, cooperatives have proved to be an effective vehicle for promoting social cohesion, grassroots participation and inclusive economic growth. Countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and Uganda have successfully used the cooperative model to transform communities and improve livelihoods.
Since independence, the Government of Zimbabwe has consistently encouraged citizens to establish cooperative societies as a means of enhancing livelihoods and broadening economic participation.
Today, 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.
Over the past two decades, cooperatives have made a significant contribution to Zimbabwe’s socio-economic development. Since 2010, housing cooperatives have delivered approximately 210 000 housing units, greatly improving access to shelter.
Savings and credit cooperatives have become an important pillar of financial inclusion by extending financial services to previously unbanked communities, in line with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy.
Zimbabwe currently has about 1 300 registered SACCOs with an asset base of US$1,1 million, total savings of US$4,5 million and a loan portfolio valued at US$2,2 million.
Agricultural cooperatives continue to contribute to employment creation, food security and improved nutrition.
They are active across several value chains, including tobacco, dairy production, fisheries and livestock production, while also helping farmers access funding, agricultural inputs and reliable markets for their produce.
Fishing cooperatives alone account for about 80 percent of the country’s kapenta production.
The Government is also implementing the National Cooperative Societies Development Policy 2025, whose overarching objective is to strengthen cooperative societies so that they contribute more effectively to socio-economic development and national transformation, in line with Vision 2030.
The policy seeks to establish an enabling legal and regulatory environment, strengthen good governance, deepen financial inclusion, improve productivity, competitiveness and
profitability, build institutional capacity, promote digitalisation, enhance marketing and trade opportunities, and mainstream gender equality and environmental sustainability, and ensure the inclusion of disadvantaged groups.
The policy is anchored in seven strategic pillars: good governance, financial stewardship, capacity development, digitalisation, cooperative marketing and trade, legal and regulatory reforms, and cross-cutting issues.
In support of these reforms, the ministry is reviewing the Cooperative Societies Act (Chapter 24:05) to ensure the law reflects current economic realities, technological advances and international best practice.
Cooperatives now operate across virtually every productive sector of the economy, making it essential that the legal framework evolves alongside them.
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, therefore, 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 is also working towards a dedicated legal framework for savings and credit cooperatives.
SACCOs are member-owned financial institutions whose membership is drawn from common bonds such as workplaces, churches, trade unions, professional associations and communities.
They play a vital role in mobilising domestic savings, extending affordable credit to low-income households and providing financial services to people who remain outside the formal banking system.
Although SACCOs are currently registered under the Cooperative Societies Act and represented by the National Association of Cooperative Savings and Credit Unions of Zimbabwe (NACSCUZ), the sector continues to face several structural challenges.
These include outdated legislation that is not specifically designed for financial cooperatives, the absence of comprehensive prudential standards governing capital adequacy, liquidity and asset quality, weak governance arrangements, limited supervisory capacity, the lingering effects of past economic instability on public confidence and inadequate management information systems and financial reporting standards.
These challenges have highlighted the need for a dedicated SACCO law.
Such legislation would establish a legal identity tailored specifically to savings and credit cooperatives, strengthen regulation and supervision, protect members’ savings through appropriate prudential standards and deposit protection mechanisms, promote sound governance and professional management, expand financial inclusion and support domestic savings mobilisation, while aligning Zimbabwe’s SACCO sector with regional and international best practice.
Bongani Ndlovu