By Kimon de Greef
Peer-to-peer apps have revolutionized the delivery business, linking restaurants, couriers and customers. Slick campaigns have marketed takeaways as part of a productive lifestyle, driving up profits for companies offering the service.
Last year, Uber Eats announced that more than 500 000 people had downloaded its app in South Africa, with 10 000 additional downloads every week, or one every minute. Mr. D Food, owned by Naspers, reported that its orders had quadrupled within a year, while local startup OrderIn has also rapidly expanded.
On the back of this growth, the streets in Cape Town and other cities have filled with scooter drivers, many of them using badly maintained vehicles and inadequate safety gear.
It has become common to see bikes with broken lights or missing mirrors, or with bald tyres, or parts held together with string and tape. There are drivers with ill-fitting helmets, with thin shoes and torn jackets. Some have no delivery boxes, balancing orders between their feet…Read more>>
