E-hailing and e-delivery platforms have expanded in the Global South by promising entrepreneurship and freedom to drivers. But over time, the companies' search for profit has forced drivers to accept harsher and harsher conditions, often leaving them worse off than when they started.
This episode features Fikile Masikane and riffs off a study she conducted with Edward Webster on food courier riders in Africa. The show offers a bleaker picture than gig economy tech companies have sought to propose. It explains how most drivers hail from the migrant or poorest populations, and their precarious condition makes them vulnerable to platforms' demands.
Click here to learn more about the work done at the Wits Southern Centre for Inequality Studies.
Produced by Andile Masuku and Iginio Gagliardone. Co-produced by Brendan "Spike" Ballantine. Written by Andile Masuku. Recording, editing, sound design and mixing by Brendan "Spike" Ballantine. Voice acting by Nkululeko Sibiya.
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