Part B: The Role of Substantive Equality in Shaping Transformative Social Protection in South Africa into the Digital Platform Work

ABSTRACT

This is a conceptual paper which is exploring the adaptation of social protection for digital platform workers in Souths Africa within the realm of substantive equality. The paper examines how a substantive conception of equality can contribute toward shaping social protection in South Africa into the digital work era where a new form of work is emerging which does not fit into the framework of traditional contributory social protection systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Social protection
• substantive equality
• transformative
• gig economy
• socio-economic disadvantage

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This paper forms part B of a 3-part series of a research paper with the title: The future of social protection in South Africa in the advent of the 4th industrial revolution. Part A explores the socio-economic inequality in South Africa and the need for social protection in the 4th industrial revolution (Katiyatiya (2019), PART A: Socio-Economic Inequality in South Africa and the Continual Plight for Social Protection in the Future World of Work, Journal of Poverty, Routledge Taylor, and Francis Group) and Part C will focus on UBER as a case study and some case law.

2. The minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. Food poverty line in South Africa is R561 per person per month as of April 2019, STATS SA, 2019.

3. There are other individual sectors that have a great dominance in the digital era. Facebook is the world’s most popular media company, Alibaba is the world’s biggest and most valuable retailer and Airbnb is becoming the world’s largest “hotelier.”

4. For the purpose of this study, digital platform employment is part of precarious employment.