Many South Africans relying on riding hailing to get around found themselves stranded on Tuesday as these platforms went “dark” due to drivers downing tools, demanding formal working conditions, protection and rights under the law.
E-hailing operators embarked on a three-day “apps off” protest across SA from Tuesday, calling for the government to introduce industry regulations to improve their working conditions.
In Gauteng, drivers marched to the offices of the department of trade, industry & competition and to the Union Buildings. A spokesperson for the operators said the department must correctly define e-hailing companies.
Through the day on Tuesday, consumers complained that the apps — Uber, Bolt and Didi — were not working properly, but platform providers said this was due to few drivers being on the road, rather than being offline.
“The Bolt app is not down or offline,” the company told Business Day. “There are however fewer drivers using the app due to the protests currently under way and/or intimidation, which means that passengers may have to wait for longer than usual to hail a ride,” said the Estonia-based company.
SA is home to about 100,000 e-hailing drivers, and more than 1-million passengers.
Drivers, who have tried for a number of years to fight for protections under the law against ride-hailing services such as Uber, say they want more than simple employee status. They argue that the relationship between drivers and platforms is more complex in SA than in other parts of the world.
Drivers say they are also concerned about an unsafe working environment amid violent rivalry at times in the transport sector.
Ride hailing platforms say they support drivers’ rights to protest.
“We take the concerns of drivers seriously and are currently engaging directly using our various engagement channels to work towards addressing the issues. Our commitment to drivers is to continuously find ways of maximising their earning potential while meeting the needs of the riders,” said Kagiso Khaole, head of mobility operations for Sub-Saharan Africa at Uber.
With TimesLIVE
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