A Pick ‘n Pay asap! delivery rider heads out along Rondebosch Main Road in Cape Town with a load of groceries. Photos: David Harrison
They have come from Burundi, DRC, Malawi, Niger, Zanzibar and other African countries to work in an industry where most people are immigrants. They are mostly young men, hungry to make a living to support their families. They risk their safety by riding bikes and scooters to bring fast food, groceries, and medicine to our front doors.
The motorbike or last-mile delivery sector has exploded in recent years. Covid lockdowns changed shopping habits. Many of us now prefer getting goods delivered straight to our homes.
Convenience on your doorstep. A motor bike delivery rider waits outside a luxury home in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.
It may also be the better option environmentally. Scientific American has described a study that compared shopping methods:
“Most of the time, having a physical store deliver products was greener than traditional shopping — which, in turn, was usually more environmentally friendly than online retail. This ranking shifted a great deal, depending on specific circumstances, however. In particular, the number of objects purchased on each shopping trip, the distance of that last-mile journey and the method of transportation made a large impact on the calculated volume of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, bundling more items together on a single purchase reduced shoppers’ carbon footprint because it required fewer trips to the store or package deliveries.”
Lawrence Hussein from Malawi waits for delivery orders on his motorbike in Adderley Street. He has worked as a delivery rider since 2018. He says those early days were better, because there weren’t many riders and there was consequently more work for him. In early 2020 while working, he was shot in his right leg during a robbery, but he says he must continue the work to support his wife and two children.
But what’s it like to be a rider?
The riders are only paid per delivery so using two-wheelers is better than a car to skirt through traffic and make more deliveries in a day. But that can come at a price: many riders tell stories of being involved in accidents.
One rider told how he has been deliberately bumped many times by taxi drivers when stopped at traffic lights. Xenophobic abuse is sometimes hurled at him. When he tries to report this to the police, they’re uninterested because he hasn’t been physically injured.
Many riders have been robbed, shot, lost personal items or had bikes stolen. Yet despite the trauma and financially crippling setbacks they continue, because it is the most viable option for them to make a living.
A Checkers Sixty60 motorbike heads down Kloof Street as a Green Riders e-bike passes. Green Riders is a Cape Town based initiative that is recruiting and training local young men and women to work in the last-mile delivery sector that is currently mostly worked in by men from other African countries.
A mechanic gets back from a test ride after a repair. With explosive growth in the motorbike delivery sector, supporting businesses from scooter and motorbike rentals to mechanic workshops have popped up and are doing well. This mechanic workshop in Wynberg is constantly busy with delivery riders dropping in all day for small and large repairs.
A mechanic at the Wynberg workshop fixes a delivery bike.
Delivery riders wait for orders in Rondebosch. The increase in the number of riders has meant a decrease in the number of deliveries a rider is likely to make in a shift.
Moudy (he withheld his surname) sets out on another delivery from the Pick n Pay in Rondebosch. Moudy, who is originally from Burundi, lives in Cape Town with his wife and three sons. He has worked as a delivery rider for Pick n Pay asap! and Mr D since 2023. It’s a hard job he says, but he must provide for his young family. The money he earns must also cover the rent of his scooter, as well as repairs.
Delivery riders parked at the Cavendish Square Claremont hub wait for orders from the various food apps and the numerous restaurants in the area.
E-bikes on Long Street in Cape Town city centre.
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