Delivery driver crackdown looms in South Africa

The Departments of Home Affairs and Employment and Labour are cracking down on illegal immigrants working in South Africa, and delivery drivers and riders could be next.

In response to parliamentary questions from Inkatha Freedom Party MP Liezl van der Merwe, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said his department cannot share much detail about its plans to tackle illegal employment in the sectors.

He explained that the departments are gathering intelligence on illegally-employed e-hailing and delivery drivers.

“Joint Operations/inspections are executed after intelligence has been gathered on modus operandi of a sector,” said Schreiber.

“As such, members that execute are not informed when intelligence is being gathered.”

He added that the intelligence on the e-hailing and delivery driver sectors is gathered at roadblocks and during stop-and-search operations.

“The nature of e-hailing is always in motion. Hence, e-hailing drivers are targeted during stop and search,” said Schreiber.

“E-commerce will be included in normal business inspections within operation Siyasebenta of Home Affairs, Blitz Operation of the Department of Employment and Labour, and Operation Shanela of the SAPS.”

The Departments of Home Affairs and Employment and Labour have been conducting raids at businesses within the hospitality sector to identify and remove illegally employed foreigners.

Responding to earlier parliamentary questions, Minister of Employment and Labour Nomakhozana Meth said the department would continue to target high-risk sectors in the country. This could include the e-hailing and delivery driver spaces.

“High-impact and joined blitz inspections take place at least once every quarter. These inspections are risk-based,” said Meth.

“The next such inspections will take place around November/December. High-risk and problematic sectors would be targeted in this regard.”

With many foreigners employed in the on-demand delivery and fast food delivery spaces, they could be the next sectors under the microscope.

In May 2024, Motorcycle Safety Institute of South Africa founder Hein Jonker highlighted the risks of employing foreigners in the delivery rider space, claiming that many aren’t qualified to drive on South Africa’s roads.

He said many may come from countries where individuals who qualify for a car licence can legally ride any lower vehicle class, including motorcycles and scooters.

“They may not have gone through a motorcycle licence test or any motorcycle training; they’ve learnt from their friends,” said Jonker.

While players like Uber Eats, Checkers Sixty60, and Pick n Pay asap! have mechanisms for vetting their contracted drivers, Home Affairs has a significant fraud problem, and many asylum documents or work permits held by drivers could be fraudulent.

This makes verifying the legitimacy of these documents a significant challenge for such companies.

Home Affairs fraud challenges

A Gauteng business owner recently shared their experience regarding the Home Affairs and Department of Labour raids and noted that the Department of Home Affairs had no records of a number of staff documents, indicating that they could be fraudulent.

Faced with the raids, the business owner preemptively started trying to verify documents through Home Affairs’ email and SMS channels.

Once staff had signed a consent form and provided their documents, the directors sent them to [email protected] for verification.

“It’s an ongoing process, but for a number of them, Home Affairs have no record of the document, so we have to assume it is fake and terminate employment,” they said.

“We have no idea who is issuing these documents.”

They were also able to verify the legitimacy of South African IDs held by some staff by sending the ID number to a Home Affairs SMS number.

The department then responds by confirming the name and date of birth associated with the ID.

The owner said most IDs were verified to be legitimate, but there was one instance where an ID number was verified to be correct but with no other details.