Fairwork South Africa 2021 Ratings

The Fairwork South Africa 2021 Ratings report evaluates the working conditions in 12 of the most popular digital labour platforms in South Africa, including Uber, Bolt, SweepSouth and MrD. 

The current COVID-19 pandemic, together with recurring lockdowns, has put considerable pressure on the South African economy. The South African gig economy has also undergone dramatic changes during this period. Some sectors, such as e-hailing, have seen significant downturns in earnings while others, such as food delivery, have expanded as society deals with lockdown restrictions. The Fairwork report highlights the precarity of the gig workers’ financial situation against this backdrop of rapidly changing national economics. Our findings not only draw attention to the challenges faced by gig platform workers, but also the positive steps that some platforms took to offset their workers’ loss of earnings during lockdowns. It highlights how platforms can engage with social responsibility to foreground responsible technological innovation.

Report authors Dr Louise Bezuidenhout, and Pitso Tsibolane will give a brief presentation with key findings from the report. This will be followed by a discussion with guest panellist Prof Paul Benjamin, University of Western Cape, Faiza Haupt, Founder/Director Trip SA Now Cooperative, Michel Hanouch, Senior Financial Sector Specialist at CGAP, and Dr Mondli Hlatshway, Senior Researcher at University of Johannesburg. The event will be moderated by Jean-Paul Van Belle, PI of Fairwork South Africa. There will also be an open Q&A session for all attendees. 

The report itself will be available from the Fairwork website Thursday 8th July at 10am.