Young South Africans open their phones every day to look for work; they log onto Bolt or Uber, accept a ride and earn an income that day. Delivery drivers do the same by delivering food and parcels across towns and cities. This isn’t a side hustle for the financially well-off. For many young people who have been locked out of the formal labour market by high entry costs and strict rules, platform work is the only job they have left. Surprisingly, the state wants to regulate it away.
The Minister of Employment and Labour has published proposed amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. The change proposed detailed definitions of “employer” and “employee” created to coerce gig workers into traditional employment contracts. This is to offer safety nets, sick leave and minimum wages.
The reality of platform work is clear; Bolt drivers are independent contractors. They own their own vehicles and phones; they get to choose their own hours and are not subjected to a company’s control or supervision.
The magnitude of this workforce is considerable. Recent reports from 2026 claim Bolt’s driver base at around 40, 000 in South Africa and Uber has enabled over 100, 000 earners on its platform. Most Bolt drivers work less than 20 hours a week. Some are students working to fund their tuition and living allowance, some are unemployed parents managing childcare and trying to make it work. Forcing them into strict shifts defeats the whole purpose of why they chose platform work.
Traditional employment rules undertake a manager watching the clock and the worker standing at a machine, implementing this style of work to the digital economy makes hiring costly. When a company must pay UIF, and payroll taxes etc for every employee, they just stop hiring. The employees who stand at a loss are the vulnerable, young and unskilled. The state creates a stronghold of labour protections, and the youth is left out.
The government maintains the argument that gig workers need protection from abuse, that no one wants to see people working for incredibly low wages. However, the solution should not be to coerce platforms to treat independent workers as full-time employees. Forcing businesses to carry the cost of strict employment contracts will result in less active drivers and higher costs for consumers. The poorest South Africans will suffer.
Instead of capturing workers in a state required contract, the market can deliver voluntary benefits. FinTech companies and private insures can creates a flexible cover for independent contractors. A driver can chip in to a daily insurance policy or add to a private savings network through their phone. These portable benefits move with the driver from one platform to the next offering them the safety net the government “wants” without tying them down to a single employer, private schemes already offer a better path.
In the same way stokvels have maintained community finances for generations, gig workers can also start their own voluntary society to arrange group rates for health services and vehicle maintenance. These societies do not require a government licence to operate; they just need the freedom to contract.
Amending the tax system is also an idea; the current tax rule is unfriendly to micro-entrepreneurs. An easy turnover tax, completed in minutes on a cell phone would let gig workers obey without contracting expensive accountants. Getting rid of the administrative burden will make it easier to endorse a small business and build a credit record.
It is about time we stop treating flexibility as a flaw. Young people do not need a government officer to determine their working hours; they need the freedom to choose their own work schedules and to negotiate according to their own terms and build a life on their own terms. Platform work gives an important foothold in an economy that doesn’t offer many. Paralysing these platforms with red tape will just take away jobs that exist and not create better ones. If the state really wants to help the young people of South Africa, they should just get out of their way and let them work.
Matsheole Majoro is a final year International Relations student and an associate of the Free Market Foundation.