According to a ruling made by South Africa’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), an employer-employee relationship does, in fact, exist between Uber and driver-partners. This follows Uber being dragged to the CCMA several months ago by seven driver-partners who alleged that they were unfairly deactivated by the service.

The ride-hailing service has long contended that it is simply a virtual marketplace that connects drivers and passengers and not an employer– citing the fact that Uber doesn’t own cars or have drivers on their payroll. In this African Tech Roundup episode, Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga discuss some of the legal implications of this ruling, and how they might compromise Uber’s business model.