The Committee felt that more financial and other support needs to be given to co-operatives, as it is a useful instrument in addressing the challenge of employment creation especially in areas where there are income disparities. Historically, co-operatives have been relegated to sections of the DTI's sub-programmes. More recently, Khula, Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and the South African Micro-finance Apex Fund (SAMAF) were given the responsibility of supporting co- operatives. In the Committee's opinion, cooperatives could be a much more important instrument if more emphasis was placed on its location and dedicated funds were allocated to it.