Uber promised South Africans better lives but knew drivers risked debt and danger
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — He had been a cop, a factory worker and a taxi driver, but at 44, Shaun Cupido had yet to find a path to prosperity. Murderous gangs ruled Manenberg, the apartheid-built township where he had spent his whole life, and he was sick of having to remind his three children to lie down and cover their heads every time they heard the pop of bullets.
Then, in 2017, Cupido found a job he thought might finally change his fortunes. Uber promised to let South Africans make their own hours and be their own bosses. He rented a car, began ferrying tourists around Cape Town’s waterfront shopping districts and cliffside resorts, and for a while, the money was good. He started to dream of building his own business operating a fleet of cars for the ride-hailing company.
But little by little, he said, Uber made changes to its service that lowered his pay and raised his risks. The company recruited new drivers to the city, flooding the streets with competitors and cutting Cupido’s daily number of customers in half. Trying to make up the difference, he logged 12-hour days and began driving in the sprawling slums of the Cape Flats, where many drivers were afraid to go.
“Hustling,” as he called it, grew even riskier after Uber began letting passengers in South Africa pay in cash as part of an effort to boost ridership. Cupido heard about drivers getting robbed and attacked, but he trusted his instincts for danger.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/11/uber-driver-south-africa-attacks/