The sustainability of cooperatives in KwaZulu-Natal

Abstract

The current study focused on the sustainability of black owned cooperatives in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study setting was constitutive of both rural and peri-urban Durban. It uses a qualitative research design and an interpretivist paradigm to elicit and make sense of participants’ views regarding the challenges and opportunities inherent in cooperative enterprises located within KwaZulu-Natal. The study adopted a multi-method data collection approach and uses in-depth interviews and document analysis to illuminate the topic. Using the two qualitative methods constitutes data triangulation. In terms of the in-depth interviews, participants were purposively selected and snowball sampling techniques were used to lead the researcher to the next participant. A total of 16 interviews were conducted with both male and female participants involved in agricultural cooperatives such as vegetable production, poultry and piggery. Interview data were complimented with that extracted of relevant literature through document analysis of government policies and white papers drawn from government archival materials particularly from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Agriculture (DOA). Overall, data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings from the study bring to the fore three broad themes which are Black Economic Empowerment, contributing factors to the failure of cooperatives, and factors hindering co-operative sustainability