Paper short abstract:

Using the cases of Johannesburg and Nairobi, this paper examines the social dislocations and political responses provoked by attempts to introduce cashless payment solutions into informal transport from the perspective of Polanyi’s Double Movement.

Paper long abstract:

In most Sub-Saharan African cities, citizens rely on informal buses to fulfil their transport needs. These networks circulate cash to employees, unions and informal businesses that congregate around transport hubs. They also serve as infrastructures for mobilising political support and extracting value from clients. Informal buses operate as redistributive webs deeply embedded into the social territoriality of cities. Recently, authorities have attempted to replace cash with digital payment technologies to disembed the industry from 'predatory' networks, reduce capital 'leakage' and introduce surveillance over workers, cash-flows and vehicles. Such attempts are welcomed by public authorities keen to assert control. Providers attempt to shift capital from de-legitimised informal actors towards formal ICT providers, investors and financial intermediaries. Using the cases of Johannesburg and Nairobi, I examine the dislocations and responses provoked by these attempts from the perspective of Polanyi's Double Movement. I argue providers must confront the embedded nature of the sector. Rather than technologies bypassing informal practices; they bring political conflict and unspoken informal norms to the surface and arouse contestation. In Johannesburg, a social protection response is emerging as providers negotiate with drivers and operators about employment conditions and compensation. In Nairobi, the social web has been too resilient to change and in place of negotiation, has come technological stalemate. I argue that informal urban transport is a unique sector due to its territorial, social and political embeddedness. However, it signals that technologies will not bring about automatic change. Rather changes are subject to political contestation and social protection responses.