Driver welfare in South Africa’s gig economy: are platforms doing enough?
Before the city fully wakes, thousands of ride-hailing drivers are already calculating the day ahead. The latest fuel adjustments have shifted those calculations again, all adding to a driver’s consideration of whether a trip is worth taking.
In South Africa’s gig economy, drivers operate without fixed salaries or guaranteed demand, which means income is shaped by fluctuating ride volumes, rising operating costs and the constant pressure of maintaining a vehicle that is in near-daily use.
This challenge has defined the sector for years with drivers simply absorbing the risk, which is understandable considering South Africa’s high unemployment rate, making this arrangement the only viable option for many.
“One of the clearest developments in the sector has been the move towards models that give drivers more control over pricing,” says Ashif Black, country representative for inDrive South Africa.
He adds that inDrive’s peer-to-peer approach allows drivers and passengers to negotiate fares directly, rather than relying on fixed algorithmic pricing. “In a cost environment shaped by volatile fuel prices, drivers see the ability to influence earnings in real time as a form of agency instead of just another feature.”
Welfare, however, is not only about income. Safety has become a core part of how drivers assess whether platforms are genuinely working in their interest. To this end, expectations have shifted towards protection that spans the full journey, not just reactive support after incidents occur.
Safety should be built into every stage of the trip
Across the industry, a clear standard is emerging where safety is embedded into the full lifecycle of a trip, from the moment a user joins a platform through to post-trip resolution.
Before a trip begins, the expectation is increasingly for stronger verification systems that reduce anonymity and prevent repeat offenders from cycling through platforms. Liveness checks, identity verification and AI-supported moderation of user profiles are becoming baseline requirements. In parallel, systems that flag suspicious behaviour or repeated account creation are being positioned as necessary safeguards rather than advanced add-ons.
The principle is straightforward. Safety starts before anyone enters a vehicle. If platforms cannot reasonably verify who is using the service, the burden of risk is pushed downstream onto drivers and riders once a trip is already underway.
During trips, tools such as in-app call masking are now expected to protect personal contact details. Trip sharing functions and emergency SOS access are becoming central rather than optional, allowing drivers to trigger immediate assistance or alert trusted contacts in real time.
There is also growing use of route monitoring systems that detect unusual deviations, extended stops or unexpected changes in direction. Where these patterns emerge, automated alerts and check-ins are increasingly used to surface potential issues while a trip is still active, not after it has ended.
In addition to these measures, inDrive has also introduced secure audio recording as an additional layer of accountability. When used appropriately, recordings are encrypted, stored securely and only accessed if an incident is formally reported. This supports dispute resolution and deters misconduct in the background of every journey.
Once a ride is complete, the expectation is for structured and responsive follow-through. Incident reporting systems are increasingly being tiered by severity, with faster escalation pathways for serious cases. This includes tighter moderation timelines and clearer accountability on platform response.
Safety beyond in-app features
Partnership-based services that extend protection into the physical world, including access to vehicle tracking, recovery tools and emergency support services at preferential rates, are becoming part of a broader safety ecosystem.
Taken together, these developments point to a shift in expectations across the sector. Safety is no longer viewed as a standalone feature set or a reputational add-on, but is becoming part of the operational infrastructure that determines whether gig work is sustainable at scale.
“The question facing South Africa’s ride-hailing sector is no longer whether platforms are creating opportunity, because they certainly are. The question now is whether that opportunity is supported by systems that protect the people who rely on it every day,” concludes Black.